


Wayward Scion

by Honeybadger_489



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-22
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-03-22 12:45:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 37,803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13764471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Honeybadger_489/pseuds/Honeybadger_489
Summary: The Crimson Cobras and the Azure Eagles are rival adventuring guild halls - both small with a handful of adventurers although they normally just refer to themselves as the Reds and Blues. Both have their own command but often spend their time bickering with one another, but neither of them seem to know why exactly they are there or at least don't care. But when a figure from one of their past shows up, both Guilds find themselves working together in an effort to protect their own and discover the truth behind it all.





	1. First Encounters

**Author's Note:**

> Oh boy, publishing my first ever work on AO3. I'm...Not really sure what I am expecting to come out of this - I'm pretty new to the RvB fandom and mostly to writing it. A lot of WIPs at any rate...So I'm sorry if I am not all that good at writing in-character but I'm doing my best. Also I don't believe in proof-reading so if there are errors...Whoops.
> 
> Characters and ships will be added in the tags as they appear. Don't worry, its a lot of them.
> 
> This was a pretty spur of a moment thing - I am a huge fan of D&D (mostly of Critical Role for those fellow Critters out there) and so when I started to do some thinking of what RVB would be but in a fantasy/D&D setting, I couldn't very much say no. I can't make any promises on a solid update schedule, these will more or less be added as I finish them but I am pretty excited for what I have planned.
> 
> This will loosely follow the plot of Season 1-10, some events happening like they did canon but a lot are changing to fit the story I want to tell. All the characters and their classes are based on 5e of D&D - I may more may not be making character sheets as I go to figure out how some of the battles play out.
> 
> Anyways, here are the races and classes of everybody (Including the Reds and Doc as well).
> 
> Leonard Church - Half-Elf sorcerer  
> Tucker - Human fighter  
> Caboose - Goliath barbarian/bard  
> Sheila - Human wizard  
> Junior - Half-orc  
> Tex - Aasimar barbarian/fighter  
> Sarge - Dwarf barbarian  
> Simmons - Half-elf wizard  
> Grif - Human sorcerer  
> Lopez - Dragonborn fighter  
> Doc - Human cleric
> 
> Also for extra nerd fact, the name of the story is based off of the Castlevania soundtrack Pitiful Scion. Buuut I just changed Pitiful to Wayward cause it fit better.

“Hey Caboose, have you seen Chu…rch.” Tucker found himself drifting off as he stepped outside of the Azure Eagle Adventuring Hall only to find his four year-old son and the goliath Caboose collecting a small pile of sand. The human blinked as he rested a hand on the hilt of his shoulder, shifting his weight as he titled in his head. He certainly wasn’t surprised by the two playing together - Caboose felt like a giant kid at times but…

“What the fuck are you two doing?” he questioned as he took a few steps forward only to confirm that, yup, they were just making a pile of sand. Not that there wasn’t anything else to do this stupid canyon other then fight off a small group of goblins or try to pick fights with the other Adventuring Hall on the other side. 

The huge goliath turned to look at the human, breaking into a smile that would have been threatening if Tucker wasn’t completely sure that Caboose didn’t have a mean bone in his body. Sure, he could get angry and that was pretty scary when it happened but a mean bone? Caboose never wanted to fight unless it was needed. “We are building a sandcastle!” he proclaimed, motioning with one of his large hands at the pile.

Tucker raised an eyebrow, his expresion shifting between the ‘sandcastle’ and Caboose before he shook his head with a sigh. He couldn’t say he was surprised - Caboose wasn’t the smartest person in the world and well...He was giving it a try. Tucker crouched down as he stared at the pile before he reached out and ruffled the small tuft of hair that was growing on Junior’s head.

The half-orc looked up at him with a smile of his own, his tiny fangs just peeking out from his lips. It seemed odd that the kid was his - but that was what Tucker got for for sleeping with that orc chick. He was sure if he was in any other adventuring hall he would have gotten flack for having a kid with a ‘monster’ but she had been pretty chill...Even if she had ended up leaving Junior with him.

But at least the others were understanding of it all - Church would grumble and complain but he did that about everything. Sheila helped with the parenting and Caboose was a playmate - rather gentle for being a giant goliath. He was sure that even the team of the local Crimson Viper Adventuring Hall was fond of Junior during the rare times they got along and weren’t at each other’s throats.

“Hey Caboose, has Church returned from his patrol yet?” the human questioned as Junior tried to wrestle his father’s hand from his head in order to preserve his tiny half-orcish dignity. The goliath only shook his head as he started to scoop up some more sand to add to their pile. 

Tucker stood up just in time to avoid the sand that was kicked up when Caboose unceremoniously dumped his handful of sand onto the pile, causing Junior to rock backwards with a giggle as he clapped his hands together. Tucker shook his head as he turned away with a sigh. “Well, I’m going to go find Church. You two stay near the Hall, alright? Don’t be getting into any trouble.”  
With that, he headed off. He had a pretty good idea of where the half-elf would be as there was always that ridge that overlooked the entire canyon. While it was good on spying for the Crimson Vipers, it was also good if you just needed alone time and if there was one thing that Church bitched about the most, it was needing to get away from them all. He wasn’t even sure what had brought Church to being an adventurer anyways - he certainly didn’t like it but yet he was the leader of their Hall anyways.

Not by choice but after Captain Flowers died suddenly, they were in need of a new leader. It was either Church or Sheila and Tucker guessed the work worked something out cause Church took over as the self-proclaimed leader without Sheila putting up a fight or even saying a word about it. She just supported him causing Tucker to always question what the deal with the two were - they had stationed here together longer than Tucker had…

His attention shifted when there was movement and a glimmer in the corner of his eyes, halting entirely as he gaze locked onto it. To his surprise - and embarrassment - there was a tall women standing perhaps ten or fifteen feet away, her arms folded across her chest and a battle axe strapped to her back. Her hair was a brilliant gold and even looked metallic due to the way the light reflected from it. Overall, she had a dangerous and unnatural look to her...And Tucker found himself quickly charmed.

“Well, hello there,” he purred as he rested his hand on his hilt, trying to look as natural as he could as he flashed her his best smile - his mission of finding Church completely forgotten in the moment. “What a beauty like you doing out here alone?”

She didn’t look impressed as she scowled at him, her arms tightening as the muscles flexed - a good show that she could most likely crush Tucker’s head with her bare strength if she really wanted to do so...And that she was currently weighting that option in her mind. “What is this place called?” she asked suddenly, her voice sharp and commanding.

Tucker blinked at the question, tilting his head as his dreads shifted with the movement. “This place? We call it Blood Gulch - cause an important war was fought here or something and a lot of people died,” he explained before he shook his head. “But, I mean,” he flashed her another smile. “The place to be would be back at my place, maybe we can get to know one anot-”

She took a step forward, a growl escaping her throat that put an end to Tucker’s words as he took a nervous step back. He swallowed as he eyed her up and down, taking in her whole appearance. She was dressed in simple black leathers - enough to cover her up and provide some armor but...Well, not enough to really count as armor. She was tall and well-built, her otherworldly beauty being offset by the dangerous gleam in her eyes that reminded Tucker of a wild animal and well, he couldn’t say he wasn’t a bit turned on by it…

He cleared his throat as the few tense seconds carried on, quickly wanting to put an end to them. “I-I mean I work at the Azure Eagle Adventuring Hall! I-If you are heading somewhere I am sure we have a map and could point you in the right direction or at least give you somewhere to take a break before you go on your way.”

For a second, her scowl somehow grew even deeper at the name of his adventuring base even if he couldn’t figure out why before she simply shook her head with a sigh. “Who is in charge of your Hall?” she questioned, her voice still as sharp as ever.

It was his turn to scowl as he snorted, rolling his eyes as he relaxed slightly. “In charge? Well I guess that would be Church bu-”

At the utterance of the name, there was a snarl from the lady as her eyes narrowed. Tucker cut himself off as he stared at her for a few seconds before his eyes widen, gripping his sword as the women drew her axe from her back and charged at him with a battle cry.

“Shit!” Tucker shouted as he pulled his sword from its sheath, relieved that he already had his shield attached to his arm. It was something Flowers had always talked about - never knowing when danger was going to rear its head so it was better to be safe than sorry. But it didn’t do the fighter any good as the axe blade kissed the air and sliced across his chest.

He stumbled back as pain exploded through the front of his body, biting back a whimper as he narrowed his gaze. He took a step forward, slicing with his own short sword at his attacker. “Swish!” The blade struck true, cutting the upper part of her arm and with a quick twist of his wist, he brought it back down with another clean cut. “Slash!”

The women didn’t even seemed phased by the blows as the blood raced down her arm, simply smiling as a pit of fear started to blossom in Tucker’s stomach. “Oh come on, you are a fucking barbarian?” he argued - well aware of how Caboose could shrug off the damage when he got into a rage of his own.

Tucker got his response as she swung again with her axe, the fighter barely getting his shield up in time to deflect the blow. His arm screamed out as the metal on metal sent unwelcoming vibrations throughout the limb - stunning him just enough for her to shift her stance and bring the axe up on his unguarded side. 

The blade of the axe sank in, his armor creaking as it was peeled open. “Goddamnit…” he gritted with a shake of his head before he lashed out with his blade. “Swish!” he shouted as he swung wildly, causing her to back up as she pulled the weapon free from his side. He stumbled as a few precious feet were put between the two fighters as he raised his free hand at her with a toothy grin. “Swoosh.” 

Her eyes widen as she was forced to take another leap back as sparks danced across his fingers for just a second before spitting out in a jet of flames. Magic wasn’t his area of expertise but he had learned a few things from Sheila since he had arrived. He could see the barbarian glaring at him from behind the flames as the few seconds it lasted seemed to stretch on as he tried to gather his breath and wits.

This wasn’t going well - he knew how much damage it always took to drop Caboose when he got angry. It was always easy to work past the pain in the thrill of combat - even for him the wounds on his chest and side just ached and barbarians were the masters at blocking out that pain. He panted as he sliced the air with his sword, sending a few droplets of blood onto the sand beneath him as the flames finally died down and the barbarian charged at him once again. 

She roared as she brought her axe down from above, gritting her teeth as he raised his shield in an attempt to block it. But she was clever, she shifted her grip in mid-air and brought it down to the side, slicing the shoulder of his shield arm as droplets of blood sprayed through the air. 

“Fuck...Fwing!” he growled as he returned the favor, striking before she could recover or block his blow. “Fwoosh!” he practically shouted as he slashed across the collar of her neck - crimson following the tip of his sword. She swung again, landing another hit on his injured side. “Goddamnit!” he growled as he tighten the grip on his sword and threw his weight forward. “Shwing!”

The sword embedded itself into her side, causing her to take a small stumble backwards as she stared at him. For a second, Tucker was feeling cocky as he withdrew the blade and gave her another slash for good measure. “Shwoosh!” But then a boot met his chest and he was sent stumbling backwards.

The world crashed around him as he fell, landing into the sand with barely a sound. He took in a deep breath as he shook his head, starting to push himself up when a glimmer of metal caught his gaze. His eyes focused on the tip of the axe arching straight for him, his eyes widened as he threw up his shield. “Block!” he cried as magic formed across the body of his shield, before arching out as the axe came to a complete halt against the magical barrier.

He panted for breath as he stared up at the barbarian who simply titled her head in annoyance that her axe had been stopped. With a snarl, she drew it backwards and started to raise it over her head when the sound of crackling energy split the air for a few seconds and Tucker’s attacker was sent stumbling forward.

She caught herself before she could land on him, a growl escaping her as she spun around. Tucker leaned to the side, trying to peer past her only to find Church standing about thirty feet off with a sharp scowl on his face. His black sword was raised, the tip still flickering with the energy of his spell as the half-elf seemed unwavering against the barbarian’s gaze.

Tucker took the moment to start scooting backwards across the sand, trying to ignore the pain from his wounds as he did his best to study the two. The first thing to change between the two was Church’s frown suddenly fading into an expression of confusion, recognition and...Relief? Tucker wasn’t sure if he had ever seen that look on Church’s face but there it was.

“Tex?” There was an honest confusion to Church’s tone, the normal anger completely gone as he almost wavered in his stance. “Tex, what are you…” The half-elf’s gaze shifted to Tucker for a few seconds - not seeming all that surprised by the turn of events but more like he couldn’t understand how the pieces were put together.

Tucker couldn’t miss how for a few seconds, the barbarian’s body seemed to loosen. “...Church?” she asked, her voice sharp with questioning before her body grew ridge once more and her grip on the axe tighten. “You little…”

Church’s eyes widen as he took a step back at the snarl, his mouth opening to form arcane words as magic flared around his body for a quick second in a spell that Tucker recognized as a form of protection. The barbarian - named Tex he supposed - charged across the sands with a angry howl that sent a shiver up Tucker’s spine as she cleared the ground between her and Church in no time flat.

Her axe sliced the air, the arcane spell Church had casted flaring to life in response. For a second, Tucker thought that perhaps the spell would stop it but then the axe finished its arc and sliced through both the spell and Church’s shoulder. The spellcaster cried out in startled pain as he threw up one of his hands, raising a finger to Tex as suddenly flames shot forth but she was as quick on her feet as ever and dodged away from the blunt of it.

As the flames died away, Church was gone and in his place was simple mist before few heartbeats past and Church materialized closer to Tucker than he had been before in a flash of mist. “You crazy bitch!” he howled as he pressed his free hand to his fresh wound, the crimson blood staining his light blue robes. “Really? This is how it's going to fucking go? I haven’t seen you in years and the first thing you try to do is kil-NO WAIT, GO AWAY!”

Church stumbled backwards as Tex came charging toward him once again, honest-to-god fear in his eyes at the barbarian bearing down at him. The axe kissed the air again and this time Church’s spell didn’t do anything to stop it. There wasn’t any type of resistance as it sank into the half-elf’s chest and he hit the ground without a sound.

“Church!” Tucker cried, ignoring the way his body was crying in agony as he pushed himself to his feet. There was no denying the panic that rose in his chest at seeing his best friend struck down by a goddamn crazy barbarian, cause no matter how much the two bickered, there was no denying that they were friends. He charged across the sands, his feet slipping on the loose material.

Tex knelt down next to Church while Tucker was still scrambling to over the distance, causing him to only be able to watch as she placed one of her hands on his chest as she slide her axe back into its proper place on her back with the other. Her hand resting gently on Church’s chest glowed with what could only be described as a holy light before the half-elf was sputtering awake.

As Tex pulled her hand away, the flimsy spellcaster rolled to the side as he spat blood onto the sand next to him. “You fucking bitch,” he moaned as his sword disappeared from where it had fallen into the sand as Tucker came to a stop a few feet out - out of range of Tex for all that was worth with how fast she could cover ground.

He held his sword out protectively as his gaze shifted between his gravely injured friend and their attacker. “So...Who the fuck are you?” he questioned, trying to ignore the pain that was flooding back into his limbs as the excitement of the battle started to wear off. He panted for breath, but still tried to stand tall as he glared at her.

“She...Is my girlfriend,” Church grumbled as he curled onto himself, his arms tight around his still bleeding stomach as he tried to stifle the bloodlost. Tucker opened his mouth, ready to say how stupid that sounded as she had just almost killed him but Tex was quick to cut him off.

“I am his ex-girlfriend,” she snarled as she stood up, folding her arms across her chest as she leered down at Church. “As you decided to be the fucker who let me think you were dead for four years!”

Tucker blinked, taking a small step away as he didn’t want to be in between whatever the fuck was going on between the two as he nervously cleared his throat. “So...Are you planning on trying to kill him again or…?” he asked as he carefully sheathed his sword at his side.

Tex pouted, an honest look of running that through her head crossed her face before she shook her arms and gave Church a sharp kick to the back. “Nah, I think I got it out of my system for now.”

Church winced, sucking in a sharp gasp of pain as he peered up at her. “Adfui etiam tibi,” he growled weakly as Tucker blinked - having no idea what words his friend had just said. He...Wasn’t even completely sure if those were words or if Church was just that out of it.

“Es adducendum est,” Tex retorted however, rolling her eyes as she leaned down and scooped Church up into her arms. Her gaze turned to Tucker as she straighten up, somehow looking completely bored despite the fact that she had apparently almost killed her ex-boyfriend with an axe to the chest not even a moment before. “So, where is this ‘Azure Eagle Adventuring Hall?’” she questioned.

Tucker just kinda stood there numbily for a few seconds, watching as Church twisted slightly in Tex’s grip so that he could rest his head against her shoulder as he let out a shuttered sigh and closed his eyes. He had fought at Church’s side a few times - sometimes against the Crimson Vipers or ‘Reds’ as they normally called themselves and sometimes again invading goblins but he couldn’t say he had ever seen his friend so close to death before. He swallowed as he shook his head, turning without a word to lead Tex to their base.

Most of the walk was in uncomfortable silence until Tucker decided to finally try to break the silence. “So...Uh...What is with the whole ‘thought he was dead for four years’ thing?” he questioned, honestly confused about that. That would lineup to as long as Church had been hanging out in this canyon as far as Tucker was aware but what exactly had happened to him that led Tex to think he was dead?

He didn’t know much about Church’s history, the half-elf often refused to talk about it or even how he had learned how to fight. He knew next to nothing so he was honestly rather surprised when Church mumbled the answer of ‘It wasn’t my choice…’ because that was almost a real one. Tex however just glared intently at Tucker and he decided not to push it any further.

Finally, the Hall came into view as Tucker cleared his throat, cupping a hand around his mouth. “Yo, Caboose! I need your help over here!” They were pretty lucky that for whatever reason, since arriving at the canyon, Caboose had started to learn some magic of his own. None of them were exactly sure how but Church had called it an side-effect of Caboose’s annoying personality...Either way, Caboose could do some light healing when needed.

And sure enough, it didn’t take long for the giant goliath to come stomping over, his expression quickly turning from pure joy to worry when he saw all three of them covered in blood. “Oh no, you all have owies!” he rumbled with a frown as he brushed past Tucker, heading straight to Church. He raised one of his giant hands, pressing it to Chucker’s chest as it started to glow with a blue energy. 

The human could see the wounds closing slightly in response to the magic as Church shifted...And Caboose, ever the slow one, finally took notice of Tex. He suddenly let out a squeak of alarm as he took a fearful step away despite the fact that he was a bit taller than her. “Who is the scary lady?” he asked in a not-so-hushed tone as he glanced at Tucker.

“That is Tex. Church’s...Ex-girlfriend or something and all around badass and bitch,” he explained, pausing as he took notice of Tex’s glare. He shrugged in response, giving her one of his charming smiles. “You beat the both of us up. That makes you not only a badass, but a complete bitch for doing so without any warning.”

The aasimar rolled her eyes but didn’t make any biting remarks as she shifted Church in her grip. “Whatever, can we please head inside so I can drop off this idiot? The fucker fell asleep.”

Tucker blinked as he peered at Church, noting that the half-elf had indeed fallen asleep and...Well, Tucker was pretty relieved by that. The spellcaster never really slept a whole lot - normally he claimed it was just a half-elf thing but the human was also well aware that Church suffered from nightmares even if he never said anything about it. It was just another thing that caused Tucker to wonder about his mysterious past.

“Sure, whatever,” he said as he motioned for her to follow, brushing past Caboose who rested a hand on his shoulder. The goliath’s hand was only there for a second, pulsing with the warm blue healing energy as the worst of Tucker’s wounds faded away with it. Caboose claimed that he healed with happiness and friendship and...Really, Tucker wouldn’t be surprised if that was the case.

He nodded in small thanks to the Goliath before he turned his attention fully onto the hall, just in time to see Shelia stepping out. The only other human at the hall, her brown hair was done in a bun as she was dressed in her normal enchanted armor. One hand rested on the head of Junior, the half-orc clinging to the older woman’s leg with an expression of worry - as Tucker had made sure to teach him that if they called for Caboose to come to them, it normally meant trouble.

Shelia’s expression was hard to read as she gaze at the group, but it shifted to visible shock and surprised as she saw the newcomer. “Oh,” she breathed, blinking a few times as she folded her arms across her chest in a slightly guarded motion. “Hello there, Tex.”

At her name being spoken, Tex came to a complete halt as a dumbfounded look shifted across her own face for a few seconds. “Sheila?” she questioned, her whole stance growing ridge as she tighten her arms around the unconscious half-elf in her arms. “Is he here as well?” There was a venom to the unspoken name that took Tucker by surprised as he looked between the two ladies.

The human shook her head as she raised both of her hands, her expression more serious then Tucker ever thought he had seen. “No, he isn’t. We don’t know where he is but I can assure you that it's far away from here,” she said in a low tone, not noticing when Junior broke away from her side to charge at Tucker. 

Even thought he was half-distracted by whatever the hell was going on between the two women, he still leaned down to scoop up his son. Bringing him close to his chest as his eyes narrowed. Who the hell was ‘him?’ He wanted to open his mouth, to ask that question but he bit his tongue at the glare Tex was giving Sheila. Perhaps it was better not to get in between those two…

The armored wizard took a step to the side, clearing the doorway as the aasimar stormed past her and into the building. She gave Tucker a worried look for a second, her expression hinting at a deeper concern before she turned to follow after Tex. “What exactly happened out there?” she questioned as both Tucker and Caboose scrambled to follow.

“Hell as if I know!” Tucker hissed as he carefully watched Tex dump Church on to the crouch - not really seeming to care if the force of it woke him up the the half-elf made no movement of stirring as the fighter continued on. “I was going to go find Church ‘cause he was on patrol when I ran into miss barbarian over here who attacked us for no goddamn reas-”

Tex cut him off with an angry snort. “I had thought he was here-” Goddamnit, more with that mysterious ‘he’ business. “When you said the name Church, as last I knew, any other Church was dead.” Her voice was bitter as she glared intently at Shelia, her scowl sharp as she folded her now free arms across her chest. “So, what the hell are you doing out here with him?”

There was a long pause of silence as Shelia lowered her head, frowning as she folded her own arms. Her fingers tapped on the metal plating of her armor as she thought about her answer, before she looked up at Tex. “I will answer what questions I can in private,” she finally said as her gray eyes swept over to Tucker and Caboose. “Tucker, you should try to get some sleep. Caboose can take care of whatever injuries you still have in the morning while, Caboose, you take guard duty.” 

With the orders given out, she spun and walked into her makeshift office area. Tex however paused for a moment, glaring down at Church as the half-elf muttered something under his breath in his sleep before she marched after Shelia. She hadn’t even bothered to give a second glance at Caboose and Tucker. 

Caboose didn’t seem to notice - or at least mind - as he turned and headed back out. Tucker had his doubts that he would really be a guard, chances are he would just go back to building that sandpile. Junior babbled in orcish as he reached up, patting Tucker on the cheek in a comforting motion. The human glanced down at his son with a soft sigh, shaking his head. “I’m fine kiddo...But I don’t know what the hell is going on.”


	2. Prior Relations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> While its not very long, I present to you chapter two! In Church POV at that. My hope is to not only use this POVs as a way of showing the different sides of who knows what...But also to improve how I write those characters. So expect more different POVs in the future!
> 
> And thank you so much for the comments and kudos I have gotten so far - I was terrified if anybody would even give this silly little fic idea the light of day so getting those, even if it hasn't been a whole lot so far, has really given me hope to working on this project.
> 
> Chapter three is going to take a bit to finish (you can probably guess why seeing the end of the chapter) but I hope not to disappoint when it does come out!
> 
> Thanks everybody who is giving this a chance. <33

The first thing Church was aware of as he groggily came to conscious was how much his chest fucking hurt. It was a dull pain that throbbed with every breath as slowly opened up his eyes, but it wasn’t the worst thing in the world he supposed. He stare at the ceiling above him, clutching his hand into a fist that was thrown over his chest as he started to tilt sideways in an effort to roll over. That was when it hit him that he wasn’t on his bed but instead the couch as he started to violently shift to the side. “Shit!” he cursed as he threw out his arm in an effort to catch the back of the couch but his fingers just glanced the side of the fabric.

The half-elf hit the floor hard with a moan, pressing his head on the cold surface as his chest ached in protest of the fall. He shook his head as he pushed himself onto his knees before fully rising to his feet. “What the fuck,” he muttered under his breath as he glared at the couch as if it had personality done him wrong. Who the hell had put him on the couch instead of his bed? He brushed a hand across his face, trying to recall the last memories that he could. When everything came rushing back, he took in a deep sharp inhale. “Shit.”

He lowered his hand from his head to where he had been struck twice before in the chest as he clutched his hand into a fist. Goddamnit, Tex was here. He wasn’t sure how she had managed to find him - she certainly hadn’t acted like she had expected to see him and he was torn between glee, annoyance, anger and fear toward that. He shook his head as he closed his eyes, allowing arcane magic to flare around him before it went dormant. Church couldn’t say for sure if she was still angry enough to try to kill him so he wasn’t going to be walking around without his own form of protection. 

Of course, he was pretty pissed at her himself. Not only had she tried to kill him upon seeing each other for the first time in four years, but she had also failed to help him before that. He shivered slightly at he thought about the memories - memories he had tried all too hard to bury. Everybody he had thought of as a friend had failed to protect him, but most of all they had all failed to save...His breath caught in his throat, but he quickly shook his head as he shoved those feelings down. There wasn’t much of a point to feel upset about the past - that was done. All he had to worry about was the present and future...

“CHURCH!” A shout broke him out of his thoughts, his eyes widening as he spun toward the source of it. His hand was raised, ready to cast a spell on pure reflex but he hesitated just enough as he saw the gray skin of a friendly goliath barreling down on him. Within the next second, he was swept off of his feet into a tight hug by Caboose, the goliath pressing his head against Church’s chest as he lifted the half-elf high and spun the two into a circle. “Church! Oh I am so happy that you are awake and okay!”

Church was not okay. His body ached and being caught in the bone-breaking grip of Caboose only made that pain a thousand time worst. “Let go of me, Caboose! Put me fucking down, I swear to-” he cursed, but Caboose didn’t seem to notice as he continued to spin the two around as he rambled on. Church was tempted to just misty step right out of Caboose’s grip, but he restrained himself because - even if he would never say it - being this well liked even by this buffoon was a nice feeling.

“-and I made extra sure to be a good guard! Kept an eye on the whole canyon to make sure that you were extra, ‘duper safe! Even Tucker said I was a good guard - that was how good I was and so I certainly think I deserve the spot of being your best friend an-”

“Caboose, put the idiot down.” 

The sicking motion of being spun in endless circles came to a halt as Tex’s voice interrupted Caboose’s very excited rambling. Coming to a sudden stop caused Church to blink a few times with a shake of his head before his gaze landed on the aasimar woman. She stood only a few feet away, looking at the two with a very natural look. She looked just like she did yesterday, although her wounds were fully healed - no doubt thanks to Caboose’s odd ability to heal mixed with what little natural healing abilities she had.

It took a few moments for the command to fully register in Caboose’s head before he let go of Church - not even lowering him to the ground. The half elf swore a few times as he landed on his feet, wavering as he planted a hand on Caboose’s chest to keep himself from falling over from the sudden impact of hitting the ground. He straighten up, turning to face Tex just in time to see her fist heading toward his face.

He flinched but the connection didn’t come, instead he watched as her fist halted a few inches from his face as the arcane spell he had casted upon himself flared to life. The light blue energy crackled against her skin as she frowned, pulling back her hand. “Huh, so did learn some magic in the last few years,” she muttered, before a sharp grin flickered onto her face. “I thought you did some yesterday but it was hard to tell cause it did jackshit to against me.”

Church’s shoulder grew ridge as he straighten up, glaring at her. “Bullshit! I hit you square on with that first blast and nearly got you with that fire! If I had been aiming to take you down, I very well could have!” he growled, his hands clenched into fists.

Tex simply scoffed at that, baring her teeth as she leaned forward to loom more directly over Church. “Still only took me two good swings to bring you down even with your fancy magic. And I hadn’t really been aiming to do so anyways - it was just a plus.”

“Well at least I don’t need to smash in faces to keep my skill up to par!” he retorted, folding his arms across his chest as he rolled his eyes. He couldn’t believe that he had been happy to see her the day before - he had forgotten how much of a goddamn bitch she could be. She looked ready to open her mouth when Caboose’s loud voice suddenly boomed from where he had been standing.

“CAN’T YOU SEE YOUR FIGHTING IS TEARING THIS FAMILY APART!” 

It was almost a wail and caused the two to turn to look at him. Cabooses hands were clamped together nervously over his chest as he looked between them two wide, sad eyes that looked almost pathic. Tucker stood at his side - Church wasn’t sure when the hell the human had arrived on the scene but judging by the annoyed look on his face, Tucker had been the one to get Caboose to interrupt the two’s fighting.

Tucker gently reached up and padded Caboose on the shoulder before he stepped forward, crossing his arms as he looked between the two. “So, while I don’t really care that you two are bickering, I do want some goddamn answers to what the hell went down yesterday,” he said with a sigh. He was fully geared, his sword hanging at his side so Church could only guess that he had just come back from patrol. “So...How do the two of you know each other and why did Tex try to kill you on sight?”

“If I wanted to kill him, he would have been dead,” Tex scoffed as Church rolled his eyes with a sigh. 

“Tex is my girlfriend-”

“Ex-girlfriend.”

The retort came sharp and quick from Tex, causing Church to falter in his words as his eyes widen as he turned to look at Tex. She wasn’t looking at him, her gaze focused instead in the direction of Caboose and Tucker. For a second, Church was tempted to say something - anything about that fast response but seeing her fingers dig into her arms...He sighed softly. Yeah...He...Supposed he couldn’t really blame her for that. 

He shook his head as he turned his focus back to Tucker, trying to hide his hurt with a look of annoyance. “We met at the Freelancer Guild,” he explained, feeling a bit of pride surge through him when he saw the look of complete bafflement on Tucker’s face. “The Freelancer Guild is one of the top adventuring Guild,” he stared to explain in a smug tone only to be cut off as Tucker raised his hand.

“Dude, I know what the fuck the Freelancer Guild is. What I don’t get is how the hell you were apart of that. It's the best of the best and uh, you are kinda the worst of the worst, dude. Tex, I can see her being in it. But you? Fuck no.”

Church scowled as Tex shook her head with a smirk. He glared intently at her before he crossed his arms with an angry huff. “Alright, no, I wasn’t apart of it but I was there. My...My dad was the leader of it,” he explained, a slight hesitation in his voice. Tucker didn’t seem to have caught onto it - or at least he didn’t care enough to say anything but Church could see Tex narrow her eyes at the mention of his father. “And I was there when it fell apart due to some...Innerparty conflict, so my dad sent me here when it went into ruins.”

Tucker raised his eyebrow at that. Chances are that if he knew about the Freelancer Guild he was aware of how it self-destructed. Church was ready to be asked how that had happened - after all he had just revealed himself to be one of the few people who knew the truth but...He didn’t want to tell anybody about it. He didn’t even want to talk about it with Tex and she most likely knew most of the details of it herself. But to his relief, Tucker just pointed at Tex as he spoke. “So why the hell did she think you were dead?”

That...Wasn’t exactly a question he wanted to answer either as he grimaced, looking away as he folded his arms. “Guess it was my dad’s screwed up way to protect me,” he grumbled under his breath, making sure to be just loud enough for Tucker to hear him. “Best way to keep everybody from looking for me was to make them think I was dead. No use in looking for a dead man, is there?”

“...How does Sheila play into this?” That question came after a few moments of silenced, taking Church completely by surprised as he turned his gaze fully back onto Tucker. The human just shrugged at the confused look. “Dude, it's clear that something is up between you two. Sheila should be the one running this place after our old captain died but instead she allows you to prance around and call yourself our captain.”

Even Tex had turned her attention to Church, her eyes narrowed but there was no masking the slight curiousy in her body language that was wondering that herself. Or wondering at least how he was going to word it. “Sheila...Worked for my dad,” he explained as he shifted on his feet, his gaze focused mostly on Tucker still but he allowed his eyes to flicker toward Tex - and sometimes Caboose who was listening silently behind Tucker but Church had the feeling that most of this was going over his head. “She was assigned to help keep an eye on me after Freelancer got disbanded but she never really liked my dad so she helps keep his eyes off of my back while I hang around here.”

Tucker narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to say something when an explosion went off. The whole base shook at the sound of it, all four turning toward the front of the hall where the explosion had taken place. No damage had been done but Church could hear the dying sounds of fire against the stones as a new voice rang out.

“Attention Blues! You are under attack! Prepare to die!” 

The voice was muffled by the wall, but it was still loud enough to be heard. The heavy accent that flavored it, along with the booming voice caused Church to sigh. It seemed the Crimson Vipers had arrived. As he stormed toward the door, already knowing what was awaiting him on the other side, he said only one thing under his breath. 

“Goddamnit.”


	3. Red Vs Blue

It was amazing what kind of sucky timing the Reds had. Tucker was scowling as he followed Church out of the Azure Eagle Hall, his arms folded over his chest. He still had so many more questions to ask Church about dealing with his goddamn mysterious backstory. Like...Seriously. The dude was apparently the son of the fucking guild leader of the Freelancers - one of the top tier adventuring halls before its mysterious downfall. The dude was a emiga to almost everybody - the adventurers were scattered to the wind and the leader had been off the map since all the shit went down. And now it turns out Tucker had been hanging out with his son for the last few years?

Like seriously, what the hell.

As they stepped outside, they were met with the sight of four of the Crimson Vipers standing about sixty feet off - well within spell and shouting distant but safe from any short-ranged weapons. Of course, they were currently bickering among themselves by the looks of it and hadn’t even noticed that the Blues had stepped outside.

Two of the guild members were facing each other. One of the half elves of their party was nervously shifting in his maroon robes, clearing his throat. Tucker easily knew that form as Simmons - known asskisser to Sarge and the brains of that team. He loomed over his leader - a gruff looking dwarf but if their expressions were anything to go buy, Sarge would have been the one looming if he had the height to do so.

“Sir, I am just saying that maybe having me use one of my most powerfullest spells to draw them out wasn’t the best ide-” Simmons tried to argue weakly, motioning toward the Blue base and the smoking stone left by his spell but the dwarven leader wasn’t having any of it as he shook his head.

“Nonsense, Simmons! What better way to show our strength by showing off our strongest weapon first!” he barked, folding his arms across his chest as he glared up at his subordinate. “We don’t want to come off weak to our enemies lest they think lesser of us!”

“S-Sir,” the wizard sputtered, as the threw his hands into the air. “Perhaps that would have worked if there was any target to hit in the first place but I completely wasted that spell!”

“You can still do it again, can’t you?”

There was a hesitation from Simmons. “Well...Yes, but only once more an-”

“Then quit your yapping! Don’t see what you are complaining about. I certainly don’t need any fancy-smancy spells to defeat my foes.” As he spoke, Sarge turned to look at the Blue Base and let out a happy laugh as he finally took notice of them. “A-ha! So you Blues turned out not to be yellow-bellied after all! Know that you are marching to your own defeat!”

At the taunt, Tex took a step forward with a sharp frown, pushing past both Church and Tucker to get a good look at the group. “Who the hell are these assholes?”

“Meet the Crimson Vipers, Tex,” Church explained as he smirked, putting on a casual air around him. “These assholes work at the other Adventuring Base in the canyon. Most of the time however, we just fight each other when there aren’t any monsters around to take care of.” As Tex put on a wicked grin at that, Tucker spent the time scanning the Reds. 

Sarge frowned beneath his beard - it was a dark curly brown but it already turning white with age but Tucker knew well enough that no matter how old Sarge was, he was still a powerhouse. He was a barbarian - skilled at taking blows and dishing them right out and when he got close ranged...Well, it normally meant a world of hurt for whoever he was fighting. 

Net to the dwarven leader was Simmons who blinked worriedly behind the glasses perched carefully on his nose. His lanky form was hidden beneath his maroon robes, and Tucker knew that while Simmons wasn’t very strong in strength, he more than made up with in magic but if you could close that gap...He tended to panic when he was fight to face with his opponents.

The other two members of the Crimson Viper didn’t look ready for combat, with the human Grif sitting a few feet off with a bored expression - Tucker wasn’t surprised and already knew that Grif had a habit of just sitting off on the sideline during the fights - and Donut...Well, Donut was bouncing up and down in place. Even from the distance between the two groups, Tucker knew that the half elf’s eyes were shining as he wildly waved his hands in the air.

“Caboose! How are you doing buddy?” he called from across the clearing, his puffy clothes making his wild movements look even more hilarious. While he wasn’t wearing the finest clothes, he was hell pulled off that outfit in the way only a bard could and truthfully, Tucker was a bit jealous. 

“Mister Muffin!” the goliath billowed in return as he started to charge across the clearing, Donut doing the same. Tucker could see Tex tense as if the battle had just begun but when Tucker just shook his head at her, she relaxed with a confused look. The two bards met in the middle, Caboose pulling the much smaller bard into a tight hug as he spun the two in circles. “Oh it is so great to see you again, it has been so long! You will not believe how much stuff has happened to us since the last time we have talked! I made a new friend! She is scary but so is Sheila at times but Sheila is also so nice! In fact, Sheila said I am becoming a much better healing lately an-”

Shelia. Where the fuck was Sheila? Tucker blinked as that thought crossed his mind, taking a step back as he glanced around. The human was nowhere to be seen - he couldn’t even spot her in the windows of the hall. Had she somehow missed the fucking explosion? Or...Tucker sighed as he realized the more likely answer was that she just didn’t care. She often let the two guilds duke it out while she just watched from the sidelines. 

With that, he turned back toward the Reds and realized that they were missing one of their own as well. The bronze - although his scales looked more brown than anything - dragonborn was nowhere to be seen. Tucker raised an eyebrow as the Reds didn’t seem to notice - or at least mind - Lopez’s absence and well, Tucker guess he didn’t care either. With Tex here and Lopez gone, they finally had a number advantage...if you didn’t count Grif but the guy almost never did anything so.

“So, you still want to fucking do this?” Church called, finally breaking the silence that had existed other than Caboose’s excited rambles which was already drowning into background noise. 

Sarge stomped his foot as he pulled his axe from his back, shaking his head as he bellowed in return. “A true Red never backs down from a fight! We aren’t cowards unlike you dirty Blues! Red or dead, Blues, Red or dead!”

Church shook his head, but Tucker could see he was smirking as the half-elf leaned toward Tex. “The dwarf is all yours - I’m certain he will give you a pretty good fight. Tucker and I will take care of their caster so you can just focus on Sarge.” 

The aasimar grinned as she pulled out her axe, leaning her head to both sides as the bone made a chilling cracking sound. Tucker pulled out his sword as Church summoned his in a flare of light blue energy. Sarge hunched his shoulders, Simmons looked ready to panic while Grif just looked good. As the energy between the two teams rose, Caboose carried Donut off to the side and out of the battlefield - not once stopping his happy ramblings. And once the two were clear, Tex charged.

At the first sign of hostility, Simmons’ paled as he placed his hand on his chest. Tucker narrowed his eyes, glancing off as the sound of ice crackling caught his attention. Church looked almost bored himself as ice started to form over his chest and shoulders, giving the human a pause. What the hell was that? A new spell? He had certainly never seen it before and made a note to ask Church about it after the battle before he turned and charged toward Simmons.

“Crap!” the half-elf swore as the distance between the two was quickly closed. He threw his hand up, energy forming on his fingers before a beam of crackling energy pieced the air. Tucker’s eyes widen as he spun on his heels, turning ever so slightly as he leaned out of the way of the energy. “Grif, do something!,” Simmons’ cried just in time for another beam of energy to split the air - this time coming from behind Tucker.

The light blue energy nailed Simmons in the shoulder, causing him to yelp as Tucker used the opportunity to close the rest of the gap and bring his sword down on to the wizard. “Slice!” he called out trumpty as it sank into Simmons’ arm, causing him to yelp out.

In the corner of his eye, Tucker could see Grif lazily watching the two fight as he picked at what little grass poked out from the sand. “Help you?” he questioned as he tilted his head with a shrug. “Do you want me to turn into a potted plant or something? Sorry, Simmons, you are on your own.”

Despite being in melee combat, Simmons glared as hard as he could toward Grif. Taking a step backwards, the wizard outstretched his finger as a small pellet of energy flared for a second before it shot out. With a quick step to the side, it easily brushed past Tucker’s shoulder as the human raised an eyebrow at the missed attack. That was, until the sound of an explosion echoed behind him.

He barely had time to brace himself as the heat and the force suddenly hit him - just the cusp of the radius. It didn’t hurt that much as the dying flames licked at his back for all but a second, but it was enough to throw Tucker off his footing and give Simmons more time to back up a bit with a terrified squeak. Another beam of energy shot past Tucker in response, nailing Simmons in the other shoulder this time as Tucker made his own wild swing.

“Sw-”

Mid-sound effect, his tongue grew numb and his body as a whole simply froze. His sword was inches from slashing Simmons’ chest but his movement as a whole had simply...Ceased. He couldn’t speak, he couldn’t move. Tucker fought against the magic that had locked up his body, but it simply refused to budge as he heard an annoyed sigh from Grif.

“There! You happy?” the other human questioned sharply from where he sat in the corner of Tucker’s frozen view, lowering his hand as he ran the other one through his lock of dark brown hair. “I helped and you are so lucky I didn’t do something stupid like cast a fireball on myself…” 

Simmons scrambled away from the frozen fighter, glaring at Grif as he motioned toward his attacker. “Happy? He almost got me, Grif! Couldn’t you have done that a little sooner? I know you like being nothing more than a lazy fatass but certainly you could have casted that spell a little sooner?”

Grif looked ready to retort something but was cut off as three rays of fire suddenly flew past Tucker’s frozen head and toward the two. One of the beams nailed Simmons squared in the chest, knocking him down with a startled gasp turn moan as the other two sailed straight for Grif. They both hit him, causing him to have to throw his arm backwards in order to keep himself from fully falling onto his back.  
But with that single move, the magic that was locking Tucker in place came to an end. The momentum that had been carrying his sword swing suddenly returned, causing him to nearly trip over his own feet but caught himself before he fall. Beside him, a pool of mist rolled up before the figure of Church rose from it. His chest was still covered with ice as he held the tip of his sword toward the downed Simmons, raising an eyebrow as he looked like he was daring Grif to even make a move.

Tucker rolled his eyes, knowing that Simmons was done for and he doubt Grif had the energy or care to cast another spell. He turned his gaze up toward the sky. He had to admit, the sunset was pretty beautiful - watching how the sky turned from blue into a deep purple. He stood there for a few moments before it hit him, what the sunset meant as he swore under his breath. 

He raised his shield, clanging his sword on it. The metal on metal made a perfect banging noise to gather everybody’s attention - even Tex and Sarge who had their weapons locked around each other and were in the middle of trying to wrestle their opponent's axe away paused to stare at him with a mixture of shock and confusion.

The human flashed the two a sheepish smile as he returned his sword to his sheath, giving a shrug. “While I do love whenever we fight against each other...I gotta go put Junior to bed.” There was a few moments of silence from everybody, only broken when Simmons leaned back into the grass, throwing his bloodied arm over his face with a soft ‘ohthankthegods.’

Grif finally pushed himself to his feet, wandering over toward the fallen Simmons as Sarge simply looked disappointed as he unlocked his axe from Tex’s. He scowled as he hooked the weapon onto his back, before his eyes brighten as he puffed out his chest. “Clearly this is a victory for the Reds! After all, it is you dirty Blues who are surrendering!”

“Sure, surrendering. Let's go with that and not just saving you guys from an embarrassing asskicking. Whatever you say, Sarge,” Church snorted as his weapon disappeared from his hand back to...Wherever the hell it went - Tucker wasn’t sure and he never felt like asking. He raised a finger to his mouth, letting out a sharp whistle as he waved to gather Caboose and Donut’s attention.

Tucker’s gaze landed on Tex as she stepped away from Sarge to storm toward Tucker, her weapon still held tightly in her hand. “What the hell is going on?” she questioned sharply, prodding Tucker in the chest with a finger as her eyes narrowed. “Why did everybody just...Stop fighting like that?”

The dangerous gleam in Tex’s eye and the fury of having the battle cut short made Tucker pretty nervous as he cleared his throat, doing his best to put on a calm air around him. Had to look calm and collected for the ladies after all. “Fighting between us...Isn’t anything new,” he explained, his gaze focusing on anybody but Tex. He could see Church pushing Caboose toward where Grif and Simmons were sitting, Donut already at their side to patch up the worst of their wounds. “Sarge sure acts like there is a blood feud between us but I’m pretty sure he just acts up the part because there is nothing else to do most of the time.”

“So what, you think of this entire thing - fighting each other to the near death - as a game?” Tex said, sounding almost bewildered at that as she slide her axe back into place on her back. 

There was a thoughtful pause from Tucker as he raised a hand to his chin, before he shrugged with a nod. “I mean… I guess you can put it like that,” he admitted as he turned and started to head back toward the base. “I mean, like I said it gets pretty boring around here as not a whole lot of monsters ever show up.”

He could hear the sound of Tex trailing close after him, an amused rumble escaping from her throat. “I’m almost impressed,” she huffed, the light trill that flavored her words made it almost possible for Tucker to picture the wicked grin that had crossed her face. “Most people wouldn’t have the balls to fight like that for fun.”

Tucker shrugged again. “I mean, it didn’t start out cause we thought it would be fun. We started out doing capture the flag but...Well, the few casters we have out here tend to favor fire spells so those went up in flames pretty quickly. Not surprisingly, it was Sarge who came up with the idea to fight like that. He likes to treat it pretty seriously but mostly it's just a way to keep our skills sharp. We never try to outright kill each other and we have Caboose and Donut on standby just in case somebody does get pretty badly hurt although sometimes they join in as well.”

There was a few moments of silence between the two, before Tex spoke again in a low tone. “The so-called ‘Reds’ seem to be following us…” she growled, causing Tucker to spare a glance over his shoulder.

He wasn’t very surprised to see that it was true - Sarge had taken the lead and was well in range that he could easily close the distance if the Blues decided to try something...he always thought that they were up to no good for whatever crazy reason that was bouncing around in his head. Grif and Simmons were close behind, with Caboose and Donut taking up the back. And Church...Church had apparently very easily conviced Caboose to carry him - or maybe Caboose had just decided to do so on his own - as he was lazily sprawled out in Caboose’s arms looking rather pleased with himself not to have to walk the sixty feet back to the base.

Tucker rolled his eyes as he focused his gaze on Tex, halting just outside of the entrance of the guild hall. “Yeah, we all normally hang out at the closest base whenever we finish fighting. All we ever do is stand around and talk when we aren’t fighting, so why not bicker at each other when we are already so close by?” When Tex didn’t answer him and simply gave him a very unimpressed look, he shrugged. “Hey, think of this as...An opportunity to scout out the enemies. Keep your friends close and enemies closer, right?”

Tex simply responded with an even grunt, but Tucker could see that she was considering what he had said. He gave her a smile as he pushed open the door. “Who knows, you might even bond with Sarge over how much the both of you like crushing your opponents into dust,” he added as he stepped into the hall. “Now I am going to put Junior to bed - try to hold off on punching Church thought until I come back. That shit I want to see.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this chapter, we have no only introduced most of the Reds (expect to see more of them next chapter ;D) but have reached over 10,000 words total! It isn't the biggest goal but it was something I wasn't expecting to hit so soon, these chapters are turning out a big longer than I expected. With so much story to tell, its pretty nerve-wracking to think what the final count may end up being but at the same time, I am excited to see how long this is going to end up as I almost know that this fanfic is going to be well over 20 chapters long and so just to reach 10,000 in the first three is...Yeah.
> 
> I'm pretty excited to start writing the next chapter as its going to be a lot of character interaction and I am really excited to flesh out everybody's options on each other.


	4. Frenemies with Benefits

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, Chapter 4 and the longest chapter so far at over 5k words! This one took a bit to finish but I am proud of it as we get a proper introduction to the Reds. I love the odd relationship everybody has with each other and having them already on friendly terms makes it a lot easier to write. Its going to be even more interesting to explore when we get some Red POVs for some of the later chapters. ;D
> 
> Chapter 5 might be a little of a wait as it doesn't have a clear line I can follow and will take some planning to get down but I am looking forward to it. And ever so slowly, we are getting closer to the proper start of the first story arc of this fanfic.

Tex sighed to herself as Tucker disappeared into the hall but she couldn’t deny the smile that lingered on her lips. She hadn’t been at the hall for even more than a day but she had to admit that while they were idiots...They weren’t that bad. At least they didn’t seem to mind the fact she could easily crush them and enjoy every second of it. Speaking of...She turned her attention onto the approaching Reds, still rather surprised that they apparently all hung out after their fights.

Fighting between fellow hall members had always been a thing at the Freelancer Guild - hell, it had been outright encouraged to fight each other to learn each other’s strength and weakness and learn how to cover your own against opponents of any type. But those fights were known to raise tensions between them, mostly when certain opponents could never beat others...She was well aware of how much Carolina hated her by the end of it.

So many different emotions failed in her chest at that name; annoyance, anger, pity, regret. She knew she hadn’t felt the same anger against Carolina that the monk had felt for her but she certainly wasn’t the most fond of her. She folded her arms across her chest as the final memory she had of the fellow Freelancer played in her mind and questioned if Church blamed her for failing to save her that night. 

Did he even know how much she tried?

She didn’t have much time to linger in the regrets of that night as the Reds approached. The dwarf lead the group despite the fact that his companions towered over him. There was a gleam in his eyes as he came to a stop, folding his arms across his chest as he glared up at her. “You better move out of our way, little missy, before you learn the true wrath of the Reds!”

Tex’s fingers dug into her arms at that comment, a growl rising from her throat as her eyes narrowed even further. She had the right mind to sock him right in the jaw if it wasn’t for the fact that one, as a dwarf he was rather hard to punch in the face and two...He had given her an even match. If there was one thing she respected was strength, and Sarge - as Church had referred to him before the fight - had held his ground and gave her some good hits in return.

It was nice to fight another barbarian. It had been a long time since she had fought with Maine and while she was eager to do that again, at least Sarge seemed to rely on more than just his brute strength. So, she rolled her eyes but stepped to the side to allow him to past. He smirked at her, letting out a barking laugh. “Haha! See Simmons, she isn’t anything to be afraid of!” he said as he strolled past, his booming voice making up for his short stature. “She makes any move on you, she will feel my axe! However, I don’t care what she does to Gri-”

Tex zoned Sarge out at the dwarf went on, instead focusing on his two companions as they moved after him. The half-elf that Tucker and Church had fought looked pale as a ghost as he slowly shifted past her as if any sudden movements would cause her to last out which was pretty amusing to watch. His hands were bunched up in the folds of his maroon robe, looking just as weak as she would expect out of almost any caster. 

The human that followed caught her gaze thought. While similarly dressed in an orange robe, he looked much more relaxed and was much more...Round compared to the half-elf’s lanky build. His skin was darker than she had expected - not as dark as Tucker’s was but enough that it clearly hinted that he hadn’t been born anywhere near Blood Gulch. He had long brown hair that billowed behind him, an impressive amount of volume to it but yet he looked completely bored as he strolled past, throwing up a lazy wave at her before he stepped inside.

“Well hello there!” A cheery voice caught Tex off-guard as she turned to see another half-elf bounding straight toward her. His short blonde hair was done in a bun, but it only made the scar that lined the right side of his face stand out more. As he came to a stop, Tex took the opportunity to study the scar that dominated the area around his eye. While the blue eye was still somehow intact and shining bright, she could recognize a burn scar when she saw one.

Tex recognized him from the battlefield, the lumbering goliath had referred to him as ‘Mister Muffin’ for whatever reason. Her gaze shifted up to see Caboose trailing behind, a smug looking Church in his arms. “Nice to meet you, my name is Donut!” the half-elf said again, bringing Tex’s attention back onto him as he beamed a big smile at her. 

“I have to say, I was really impressed with you! Almost nobody can keep up with Sarge and his stamina when it comes to fighting! I’m a bit disappointed that you don’t use a sword, I’ve always preferred those with long swords but I do suppose the type of equipment doesn’t really matter, just how you use it!”

Caboose nodded as he came to a stop behind the half-elf. “I always prefer to use my fists. Church says it's safer that way for the both of us for some reason.” The goliath gave a shrug at that, Church grumbling as he was tugged along in the movement as he remained reclined in Caboose’s giant arms. “Church is smart so I listen to him. Unlike Tucker. Tucker is stupid.”

“Well I think it's a shame!” Donut interrupted, his voice raising a pinch as he spoke. “I’m sure you would have the biggest sword around, Caboose! But for me...Well I like to use a flute. I’m pretty skilled at using flutes of all kind and you would be surprised at how many people I can charm with mine!” he added with a small wave of his hand as he turned to look at Tex.

She however just stared back at him as the few passing seconds seemed to stretch on. She wasn’t sure what to even make of him as he waited as if he was expecting her to say something. Nobody other than Caboose and Sheila had been this straight forward with her but even then, she had the feeling that Sheila was hiding something from her. Unsure on what to do with this simply...Nice behavior, only four words left her mouth. “Are you a bard?”

That caused Donut to blink in return, before his smile grew even brighter as he clasps his hands together over his chest. “I am! Only the best bard in the canyon! I can sing sweet nothings like you wouldn’t believe and you would be surprised at what kind of magic I can do with just a finger,” he added as he leaned forward slightly.

“Alright, I have heard enough of whatever the fuck is happening,” Church finally spoke up from where he was laying in Caboose’s arms, rolling his eyes before he focused on the goliath that was holding him. “Caboose, can you please put me down?” he asked, before he blinked hard. 

“Softly!” he added quickly just as Caboose’s arms tensed like he had simply been planning to just drop Church. Slowly, Caboose lowered Church so that the half-elf could roll to his feet and stand up to his full height. “Thank you, Caboose. Now, how about you two head inside. I want to talk to Tex about something really fast.”

The both looked slightly hurt at being told to go inside, but they both nodded and ducked in without a single world leaving just the two standing outside as the sun set behind them. Once the door had fully swung close, Tex opened her mouth to say something as she turned to look at Church but found her words dying in her throat.

Now that she didn’t have Caboose or Donut to distract her, she was fully aware of the ice coated that coated Church’s upper chest. A soft mist rolled off of him as cold ice met the much warmer air, crackled as he moved and shifted but remained in one piece as it hung off of him, not even impeding him as he folded his arms across his chest with no mind to it. “What the hell is up with the ice?” she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

Church blinked for a few moments before he looked down at it, seeming rather surprised like he had somehow completely forgotten about its presence. “Oh that! I dunno, just a new spell I picked up,” he added with a soft shrug, the ice moving with the sudden movement. “It's good for added protection in battle, mostly against Sarge thought.”

Tex narrowed her eyes as she leaned in, a scoff escaping her as she studied it. The ice looked complete fragile and ready to break - which only added in the mysterious of how it remained in one piece on his body with all of his movements. “It looks ready to snap off at a single touch,” she said with a tilt of her head. “So how exactly is it added protection?”

“Why don’t you punch me and find out?” he taunted with a smile that caused Tex to pause. She raised an eyebrow as she straighten up, now properly wary of the strange magical ice. Church knew how much damage she could do with a punch, he had deserved the blow more than once so the fact that he was asking for it...Well, she was tempted to punch him to wipe that grin off of his face but he seemed certain that the ice would either protect him...Or made sure she regret it.

“How about I just wait? I’m sure you will say something stupid that is going to get somebody else to punch you. Besides, Tucker told me to wait until he could watch,” she added with a smirk of her own that quickly replaced the one that disappeared from Church’s face as he scowled at her. “Besides, I suppose the new question here is how? Why the hell do you have magic, Church?”

It had been something that had been bugging her ever since he had first interrupted her fight with Tucker. Church had never been able to use magic back at the Freelancer Guild. From what she had learned from both Shelia and Tucker in the short time she had to question them about it, neither of them knew where the talent of magic had come from. It had happened one day suddenly from both of their accounts, although Tucker thought of it more aligned like his own simple odd burst of magic he could do than Shelia’s hard-earned knowledge as a wizard.

But it still didn’t make sense - none of his family had been born with a talent for magic like the one that Church seemed to have. So it wasn’t like he had gotten it from...Her train of thought quickly halted as her eyes widen for a moment before she narrowed them with a growl. “If what the hell he did has anything to do with it...” 

“No!” Church suddenly interrupted, as he squared his shoulders as he glared up at her. “What he did…” his voice broke off, his eyes widening as Tex could see the traces of fear that still lingered. His hands tighten around the sleeves of his robe, shaking his head. “That isn’t how I got this...Skill.”

The hints of terror that echoed in his voice despite his best attempts to hide it made Tex’s stomach twist as anger of her own started to rise up in her. Anger at what she had failed to prevent but also anger that Church refused to be straightforward with her. So when he tried to brush past her, she clamped her hand onto his shoulder. The cold ice bit at her skin but she simply ignored it as she held him in place. “Then how, Church?”

He refused to look at her, his gaze locked on the ground before he shrugged. “Listen, it just...Kinda happened one day,” he huffed with a shake of his head. “Maybe it just skipped one of my parents or something. It's not important, Tex. It...It’s really isn’t.” She could tell that he was lying through his teeth as he pulled away from her, but she didn’t know what to say as he ducked into the halls to prevent any further questions.

She shook her head with an angry growl, swearing to herself to one day to get the truth out of Church somehow before she stormed in after him. From the moment she walked in, she could see that the Crimson Vipers had already chosen to make themselves at home. Grif had chosen to simply collapse in the couch, taking up most of it while Donut took little what was left. Caboose had sat down at Donut’s feet, happily chatting to the half-elf bard while Simmons stood behind the couch, leaning on the back of it as he talked with Grif in low tones.

Sarge, however, was off to the side of the room bickering with a figure that Tex didn’t recognize. It wasn’t hard to miss the fact that the figure was a dragonborn, his scales looking almost a dull brown in the low light that illuminated the room. The expression on his face read complete boredom as he leaned against the wall, paying no attention to the dwarf that was yelling at him.

“Church, who the hell is that?” she questioned as she pointed toward the dragonborn, causing Church to look up from the corner of the room he had claimed his own in the short time of his arrival. He raised an eyebrow as he followed her finger before his eyes finally landed on the scaled humanoid.

“Oh, that would be Lopez,” he explained, his voice no longer carrying any of his prior fear like he had put on a mask over it. “He is one of the members of the Crimson Vipers. I had been wondering where he had been during the fight but I guess he was just hanging out in here.” She raised an eyebrow in response to that as Church turned to look at her, but he just shrugged at it. 

“Its fine. Chances are he was just hanging out with Sheila because…” There seemed to be a moment of hesitation on what he was about to say, before he shrugged sheepishly. “Nobody understands Lopez other than her. He only speaks Draconic despite understanding Common just fine for some reason as far as we can tell. We aren’t even fucking sure what his name is as it was Sarge who named him Lopez for whatever reason, but he seems to go along with is so we don’t bother to question it.”

Tex didn’t bother to give a response to that because...Well, there wasn’t even much to say to it. She simply let out a huff as she folded her arms, eyeing Lopez. She could tell he was a fighter from his armor and the sword that was hanging at his side, one clawed hand wrapped around the handle like he was debating on using it. 

“-A coward, Lopez!” Sarge was yelling as he tilted his head to stare up at the much taller dragonborn. “We just find you in here like a no good dirty traitor! I can excuse this behavior sometimes but you knew certainly well that we were going to war today with those dirty Blues and yet we find you in here - not even a prisoner an-”

Lopez caught Tex’s eye, simply nodding at her but his expression held nothing but pure annoyance. He gave her a look that told Tex that simply read ‘please kill me’ and she was then certain that the person he was debating to use the sword on in that moment was either Sarge or himself, whichever one would end the scolding for him faster. 

The door in the back of the room opened up as Tucker stepped in, now bare of all of his armor and even his sword. He was dressed in simple clothes, whatever he had been wearing beneath his gear as he smiled at the gathered adventurers. “Alright, Junior has been put to bed,” he said as he crossed the room toward Church. “But what I want to know is what the hell is up with this new trick!”

As he finished, he reached the half-elf and punched him playfully in the ice-covered shoulder. He however quickly yelped as he jumped backwards, shaking his hand. From where she was standing, Tex smirked as could see shards of ice impaled into the limb, melting fast now that it it was separated from the giant mass of magical ice. “The hell?” he cursed as he wrapped his other hand around the wound as the ice finished melting, trying to stop the bleeding with pressure.

Church rolled his eyes, but a smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he spoke. “This would be my newest spell that I picked up. I knew it was a protection spell of sorts but I wasn’t quite sure how it reacted when I got hit so thanks for showing that off, Tucker.”

“Ugh, how come you always get the coolest spells, Church?” Grif moaned from the couch, leaning his head back so he was staring at the ceiling with a frown.

Simmons leaned forward, holding his face right over Grif’s as he scowled at him. “You could do some impressive things if you weren’t such a fatass and bothered to use your magic!”

The orange robed human crossed his arms as he pushed himself further into the couch, rolling his eyes. “You know why I don’t fucking bother with it,” he muttered as his gaze dropped toward the ground. “It's way too much work to cast them and I hate dealing with those random magic surges when they happen.”

The wizard shook his head as he raised his hands, running them down his face. “It's so unfair that a lazy asshole like you got a natural talent for magic that you won’t even use while I had to work hard to learn it.”

“Makes perfect sense to me. You are a fucking nerd so it really fits that you had to do all that boring crap of studying and learning,” Grif retorted with a shrug. “Besides, you just aren’t as awesome as I am.”

Before Simmons could respond, Tex cleared her throat and gathered everybody’s attention. “So, is this really what you all do?” she questioned as she folded her arms. “You fight each other and then just...Hang out and bicker once you are done?”

Everybody was silent as they looked at each other before they nodded. Caboose, however did speak up. “I am not bickering! I am hanging out with my bestest friends in the whole world! And Tucker!”

She had been in disbelief when Tucker had explained the whole thing to her but now that she was getting confirmation from everybody just caused her to shake her head. Everybody in this canyon were idiots...But there was a respect she had for them that they could put away their differences just like that. “And what, you idiots have doing this for four years now?”

“Incorrect!” Sarge barked from where he stood, crossing his arms over his chest as he glared up at her. “Our few moments of fragile peace with our sworn enemies have only been happening for...The last two years.”

Right. As her gaze turned onto the dwarf, she recalled that Tucker had said something about the mutually-agreed fights had been Sarge’s plan. The idea that somebody that he, who had just called them sworn enemies, had come up with the plan struck her as odd - mostly that it had happened two years into their four year stay. “So what the hell changed in those first two years?”

For a second, the dwarf looked almost sheepish as he hesitated to answer her question. “Well...I believe it was the death of the previous Azure Eagle captain. A one Captain Flowers.”

Flowers. Tex narrowed her eyes at the name, remembering him all to well. The day before, when Sheila had explained the rough history of her and Church’s stay in Blood Gulch, she hadn’t been very pleased to learn that it was him that was to guard Church. There was something about him that always struck her as off, at how cheery he was despite their field of work...And how ruthless he could be while being charming all the same.

But there was no doubt that the Guildmaster had made a wise choice in sending Flowers. The druid was nothing but loyal and very powerful. He never liked using his full power but not many could stand up against him if Flowers felt that he needed too. As she was lost in her thoughts, she almost missed the way that Church’s gaze suddenly dropped at the mention of his previous captain.

The expression on the half-elf’s face was hard to read as Tex studied him. It wasn’t fear in his eyes - that wouldn’t have surprised Tex all that much seeing how Flowers had been more or less keeping Church a prisoner here, but instead it was...Something else. Like he was hiding something. What Sheila had said about Flower’s death rung in her mind, that nobody was certain how it had happened. 

It was Church who had found the body but as far as Sheila could tell, there was no true cause of death that could be seen. Flowers had simply...Died. It was suspicious that a powerful druid like Flowers had simply keeled over like that...And why Tex could swear that Church almost looked guilty despite the fact that Tex was certain that there was no way he could have played a part in it.

She was tempted to say something but she thought the better of it, it would be smarter to question him about whatever secrets he had when it was just the two of them and she could pound him into dirt if it really refused to explain what the hell had happened to him in the last four years...And even before that. She shook her head, turning her attention back to Sarge as the dwarf finally continued to speak.

“For a no-good dirty Blue, I will admit that Captain Flowers was pretty darn powerful. Whatever few attempts we had done was always driven off so I thought we would wait until we grew more powerful to take down the Blues! But imagine my surprise when we caught wind that Captain Flowers had died a coward death and not on the glorious field of battle!” 

Tex didn’t miss the way that Church flinched at that, her gaze shifting back to him for a quick second as she frowned but said nothing as Sarge went on.

“When we realized that the Blues had lost their most powerful soldier, I knew it was time for us to attack!”

“And how did that work?” Tucker questioned from where he stood, leaning forward with a smile.

The dwarf’s expression quickly soured at that, narrowing his eyes as he shifted on his short legs. “We chose to spare you dirty Blues from our full might,” he grumbled, although it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself that it was the truth. “After all, how else could we learn the foul schemes that you Blues were sent here to complete?”

Tex raised an eyebrow as she held up a hand to interrupt the dwarf. “I’m sorry...What do you mean ‘foul schemes?’” she asked, causing Sarge to perk up.

“I mean what it sounds like! I am well aware that we Reds are here to stop your rotten Blues from completing whatever dastardly plot you all have going on!” he billowed, a smug smile flashing across his face. “I mean, why else would you have such powerful protectors like Flowers or Sheila among you if not to protect your very important but vile mission!”

She frowned at that, but found that...Well, she wasn’t all that surprised seeing his point of view from things. From what she could tell, nobody other than Sheila and Church had known their true reason of being here before she had come along. And even now, Tucker didn’t know the full truth of everything while the Reds were in the dark still...But that did raise a question as she stared out at the gathered adventurers. 

“Why do you idiots think you all are doing here?”

Grif shrugged, being the first of the group to answer her question. “It's one of life’s great mysterious. Why are we here? But as for why we are in the canyon...I find that I don’t really care. I get paid for doing nothing most days! It's rare we get to fight any monsters and I just tend to sit out of whatever stupid fight Sarge tries to rope the Blues into.”

“You idiot, we are here to keep the nearby towns safe,” Simmons said as he leaned onto the back of the couch, rolling his eyes as he glared down at the back of Grif’s head. “Sure, this is a dead-zone for monster activities but our job is very important when they do show up! ...But at least all the quiet gives me plenty of time to work on my studies.”  
Tucker shrugged at that as he leaned against the wall. “I mean, the nearest town isn’t even in walking distance but...Yeah, I always figured the same as Simmons. Keep the monsters under control when they do show up and just...Dick around in our free time.”

“I am just here to help!” Caboose said with a large smile from where he sat on the floor while Donut nodded behind him.

“Totally! I’m always happy to lend a hand, no matter the cause!”

There was a movement in the corner of Tex’s eye that caught her attention, only to find that Sheila had slipped into the room during the conversation. “I’m just here to keep everybody in line,” she hummed as she came to a stop next to Lopez, flashing him a smile.

“Hey Sheila, why the hell didn’t you help us in the fight against the Reds?” Church called as most of the room turned to look at the new arrival.

Shelia just tilted her head with a soft smile as she turned to look at him. “I’m here to keep everybody in line, not play bodyguard. You know that better than anyone here,” she reminded him, causing Church to duck his head with a scowl.

Tex rolled her eyes as she spoke up, a hint of curiosity in her eyes as she focused her attention mostly on the Reds. “So, you all have your own beliefs on why you are here...But you guys seem pretty close to one another.”

Sarge scowled quickly, folding his arms across his chest as he glared up at her. “Of course we are! So what if my fellow soldiers fail to see the true threat of the Blues?” he questioned, not seeming to catch the fact that he had referred to the others as ‘soldiers’...Which made his odd feelings toward the Azure Eagles make a little more sense as he seemed to be half convinced that they were an army. “In the end, we all have the same goal to protect the nearby towns… Even if sometimes that means allying with the dirty Blues every once in a while.”

Huh. Tex tilted her head as she raised an eyebrow, thinking through his words. She had come to think of the world as a place where you were on your own. Nobody was to be trusted, mostly after everything that had happened with Freelancer. Lines that had been crossed that never should have and in the end, even those who had sided with her had gone their own way. To her, the world was a place where you had to fight for yourself because you could barely trust others to watch your back without stabbing it. 

And yet it seems everybody in this canyon trusted one another even if they were technically on different sides. She didn’t trust it one bit...Mostly with the fact that Church seemed so at easy with it all despite the worst betrayal in Freelancer having arguably been done to him. Her eyes shifted over to him, her frown growing sharper. She had to talk to him at one point about everything that had happened...She only knew the bare details but even those had been enough to move into action even if she had technically failed in her goal at the end.

“Tell me, why are you here?” Sarge’s voice cut through her thought, causing her sharp gaze to flicker back to him. 

“I’m here by accident,” she said as she turned to fully face him, placing her hands on her hips with a shrug of her shoulders. “I had taken to wandering the world when I stumbled across this canyon. It's just pure luck that I happened to know Church and Sheila thanks to...My previous line of work.”

Donut leaned forward from where he sat on the couch, both eyes sparkling as he hummed. “I wouldn’t be so sure, Tex! Fate is pretty mysterious and you will find yourself in all kinds of positions! Some good, some bad…” he said, making a vague wave toward the scarred side of his face. “ But you almost always have a reason to be in them. I’m sure you stumbled across us for a reason! You just gotta wait a bit to find out why!”

Tex frowned as she leaned against the wall, staring at the group as Donut turned to praise Tucker on his skill with his sword. As they all started to get lost in their own conversation, she barely listened as she allowed herself to get lost in her thoughts, spending the rest of the night as she pondered why she was exactly there and what reasons she had to stick around.


	5. Closed Encounters of the Doc Kind

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, it took months but here we are, Chapter 5 is done. This chapter has been sitting half-finished for a while but now that Season 16 of RvB is over, I swear I am going to start focusing on this fanfic again (also I might start uploading some of my other fanfics I have sitting around finished. A few of them are just guilty-pleasure 'what ifs' so its a bit hard to gather up the will to post them). We still aren't at the start of the plot itself, that is in a few chapters but we do get introduced to a new character...Doc! This is my longest chapter yet, which is both great and also draining. 
> 
> I'm sorry for so long of a wait, talking chapters are fun but also can be draining but luckily there might be some action in the next one. ;D There may be a bit of a wait for the next chapter - partly in the planning itself but I also might try to make a bit of a backlog but I swear it won't be as long as this wait was. Things will start picking up as we get into the meat and potatoes of the plot, just need to set everything up first...Which is good because there are so many scenes I am excited to write or even just finish planning out fully.

There was nothing as far as the eye could see, and after a few days of this Frank was feeling that he had perhaps made a mistake. He stood leaning against a rock, bathing in the shadows as a break from the sun that had been almost unbearable for the last few days of his journey. The clercis of his temple had warned that going out into the world wasn’t going to be an easy experience but he wanted to be of aid to everybody, not just those who would find themselves at the temple.

But really, it was of blind faith and luck that he had survived so far. He hadn’t met a single hostile creature which was great seeing how he didn’t have a damaging spell known other than one. The temple had offered to teach him some in order for self-defense but he had sworn off a life of violence and would only hurt anybody if he had no choice...Still, it had been a oversight seeing how dangerous the world really was.

With a sigh, he pushed away from the rock he was taking shelter with and stepped into the harsh sunlight with a frown. Luckily he wasn’t in a complete wasteland, some grass littering the ground here and there but the walls of rocks that arched far in the distant was leading him to believe that he had somehow walked right into a canyon.

He could only hope that it wasn’t a boxed canyon, he was running low on supplies and he wasn’t quite sure if there was going to be any sort of civilization in a canyon like this...That was until he spotted a lone building sitting there, a hopeful beacon of life. He felt his heart rise a little as there was a new spring in his step as he hurried across the wasteland.

As he drew closer, he started to take in details of the building. It was well-made, looking to be made out of stone with a few windows here and there. There wasn’t much that made it truly stick out other than a blue banner that was unfurled down the side of it, a darker blue symbol being stitched onto it but Frank couldn’t quite tell what it was even with his glasses on.

It didn’t take long for something else to draw his attention, the sound of shouting and clanging steel. The sound itself was enough to send a shiver down his spine as he easily recognized it as none other than fighting. With a quick mental recap of what spells he had learned for the day, he took off running toward the sound in case he had to be of aid.

Stepping around the corner of the building, taking only a moment to figure out that the symbol he had seen had been a bird with its wings outstretched on the banner, he found a rather small scaled battle taking place. It was three on four by the looks of it, although one of the members was just lazily watching from right behind the battle line. There was however a proper audience that caught his attention.

A human, an elf and a goliath stood off to the side as they simply watched spells be slung across the battlefield and blades clash with one another. None of them looked ready to jump in to be of aid or even put a stop to it, simply watching it all as Frank started to slowly move forward toward the trio.  
“Um...Hello?” The closest one, the female human, turned at the sound of his voice as she seemed rather startled by his approach. In her arms was a young half-orc, who growled and wave his hands at the sight of Frank. The woman whispered something to the child before she stepped away from her two companions and headed over to him.

The woman was dressed in studded armor, although a flicker of arcane energy ran across the leather every few seconds. She had no weapon to speak of anywhere in sight but Frank could sense a wave of powerful from her that told him that she didn’t need a weapon to be deadly. “Hello there,” she greeted, her voice light although she had an uneasy look in her eyes. “May I ask who you are and why you are here at Blood Gulch?”

“My name is Frank DeFurse,” he responded quickly as he motions toward the pack he had hanging at his side, although he frowned at the name of the area. Blood Gulch...It certainly didn’t sound pleasant. “I’m a traveling cleric and healer - I haven’t come to...Blood Gulch for a specific purpose, I’ve just happened to stumble across it. Now...Can I ask why you are watching that fight?”

She didn’t respond at first, her eyes narrowed before she gave him a soft nod of approval and turned to stare at the fighting that sounded like it was coming to an end. “Oh, that? That’s something that happens weekly around here. Blood Gulch is the home to two adventuring guilds and in order to the past the time they’ve decided to fight to keep their skill sharp. We are technically rivals but most of us don’t but any stock in the rivalry itself,” she explained as she turned her attention back onto Frank.

“Anyways, my name is Sheila. This here is Junior,” she explained, dipping her head toward the half-orc which was still waving his arms in Frank’s direction as he bared his tiny tusks. He was certain the child was attempting to be threatening but in all honestly, it was rather adorable. 

He leaned forward, making sure to stay out of reach of Junior as he fawned over the baby. “Well hey there little guy! Look at you, trying to be a real fighter! I’m sure you will be super scary when you grow up,” he cooed.

“Who the fuck is this?” A new voice caused Frank to straighten up, turning to see a half-elf and a dark skinned human walking toward him. Taking a small moment to glance behind them, Frank noticed that the battle had mostly come to a stop with only two of the compatents still fighting - a dwarf and a tall human-ish looking woman being locked in a stalemate. 

“Frank DeFurse, traveling cleric and healer,” he repeated quickly as Shelia lowered Junior to the ground. The young half-orc charged across the clearing on unsteady feet and into the open arms of the human who swept him up into a hug. “Please to meet you all.”

The half-elf frowned as he strolled right up to Frank, hands on his hips as he studied him before he shook his head. “No, that name is stupid. I’m not calling you that.”  
The response caused him to jolt, blinking in surprised as he glanced between the half-elf and Sheila. “I’m...Sorry? What?”

“I’m not calling you Frank or...Whatever your last name was. We already have a Franklin when it comes to Donut and your last name is honestly a mess. So I am not calling you either. How about...Doc.”

“...What?” he managed to choke out, his eyes wide as he tilted his head. “But I’m not even a doctor! I’m a cleric, I use magic to heal others, not proper knowledge!”

The dark skinned human walked up with a shrug, cradling the half-orc in his arms. “I dunno, I like the nickname Doc. Way better than whatever you introduced yourself with.”

Frank opened his mouth, ready to argue against it but closed his mouth with a shake of his head. He didn’t see much point in fighting it, he was outnumbered here and Sheila didn’t look like she was going to take his side over theirs. He could deal with it as a nickname he supposed. “Fine...Can I have your names then?”

The half-elf had perhaps the most smuggest grin that Frank had ever seen in his victory over what to call him, folding his arms across his chest as he gave a soft shrug. “My name is Church, leader of the Azure Eagles. This here is Tucker and Junior is his son,” he explained as he glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the group. “The aasimar that is fighting the dwarf is my gir...Ex-girlfriend Tex and the goliath is Caboose. Everybody else that you haven’t met belongs to the Crimson Vipers, or the Reds as they like to call themselves.”

“I...See,” Frank said as he studied everybody as they were pointed out to him. The easiest to study was Church and Tucker. Church had messy black hair and striking green eyes and was dressed in light blue robes. There was darker blue symbols stitched into them but he had a feeling it was just for design purposes instead of holding any true magic in them. There wasn’t a weapon on his body to be seen, which struck Frank as odd as he had been certain he had seen him wielding a sword when he had been fighting.

Tucker was busy baby-talking to his son which was an adorable sight. His black hair was cut short, although it was a bit uneven as it looked like it was currently growing in. He was dressed in simple leathers, dyed a green-ish blue like color with a sword strapped to his side. The others were harder to make out due to the distant, the goliath standing out due to his pale skin and black tattoos that ran across his flesh. It looked like he was excitedly talking to two half-elves and a human, his hands waving in grand gestures. 

After a few moments of silenced, Frank turned his attention back to Church as he gave him his best, most warm smile. “As I said, I’m a healer. You guys wouldn’t happen to need one, would you?”

“No.”

The response was quick and short, causing him to once again be taken by surprised. “No?” Frank echoed, a little hurt by how fast the response had come.

Church simply shrugged at that. “No. We already have a healer in the form of Caboose. Sure, he isn’t the best healer and we don’t even understanding how he somehow learned magic but we’ve come not to question anything when it comes to him. Too much of a headache to do so. So...No. We don’t need a healer.”

He stood there as sillence drifted between them other than for Tucker’s soft cooing over his son. He...Wasn’t sure what to do about this. He wanted to be of help somewhere, and this was one of the best places to do it. They were honest to gods adventurers! Their whole job was keeping the local towns - if there even was any - safe. Finally, he found words to speak. “Is...There any use I can be?”

The half-elf stood there for a few moments, a mixture of annoyed with slight amusement flashing over his face before he gave a helpless shrug. “Honestly? The Reds might take you in.”

“Woah, woah, woah,” Tucker interrupted as he peered away from Junior, glaring intently at Church. “Are we really going to be giving this guy over to the Reds? They outnumber us, dude!”

“We only have a limited amount of food and Caboose eats for like...Three people. I have no idea if we can even support having another person around as we already have to feed Tex.”

“More like you eat for three people,” Tucker muttered under his breath, only to take a quick step back when a sword suddenly appeared in Church’s hand. The sword had a wicked curve to it, the metal being a pure black that sent..A chill down Frank’s spine as he stared at it. “Dude, just kidding around!” Tucker snapped as he turned his body, protectively holding his son as far as he could away from the weapon’s fine point.

There was a smug smile on Church’s face as the sword disappeared back into thin air, his posture changing just enough to show that he was thrilled that he had ‘won’ that debate. “Besides, we aren’t outnumbered. Technically, counting Junior, we have more but we just have more sitting out during our stupid brawls. Anyways, Doc said he was a healer and healers don’t fight so this changes literally nothing.“

Frank glanced between the two before he cleared his throat, bringing the attention back onto him. “Alright, so...Reds. I guess I can talk to them if you guys won’t have me,” he said, trying to hide the hurt in his tone. “Which one is their healer?”

“Donut,” both Tucker and Church said at the same time, although Church was the one who pointed toward where he had spotted the goliath, the human and two half-elves. “He’s the half-elf who is doing the healing over there, isn’t hard to miss. Anyways, if the Reds don’t accept you...Just...Don’t come crawling back to us, alright? Oh, and send Caboose over here. Otherwise he will follow the Reds back to their base and we can’t deal with that again.”

Frank pouted, mostly to himself as already Church had turned his attention away from him. Of course he was being thrown to the wayside, nobody ever appreciates the healer until they were needed. The clerics of his temple had warned him of that but he had been so eager to make a change that he had ignored them. He was stronger then this, he could deal with this rejection.

With a sigh, he turned and started to head toward the other group. It didn’t take long to cross the ground, using the little time to study them. The one that stood out the most was the goliath, as big as the stories always said but even then...There was a softness to this one that you could just feel. Frank didn’t feel terrified as he grew closer to Caboose, instead certain that the most danger he was really in was being caught in a very tight hug but he had a feeling that if Caboose got angry...

The rest of the group, the Reds he supposed, didn’t stand out as much against Caboose. There was the half-elf, who had been pointed out to be Donut, was tending to the injuries of the others, his long blonde hair done in a neat bun as he wore rather...Brightly pink colored leather, ornate in design and complexity but seemed rather comfortable in it all. What really stood out thought was the scar that lined the side of his face, a horrific burn scar that never fully healed even with the use of magic.

The other two, the remaining half-elf and human, were dressed in simple robes, a dark red and orange in color each. A book hung off of the half-elf’s side, well bound and clearly well taken care of. A wizard, if Frank had to guess while the human had to be a spell caster of some sort if he was wearing robes like that. 

“Um, hello!” he said as he came to a stop near the group, causing all four heads to snap in his direction as none had noticed him walking up. “Caboose,” he said, his attention flickering toward the tallest of the group with a slight warm, but wary smile. “Ah, Church was asking for you.”

The goliath’s eyes lit up like nothing Frank had seen before, a look of pure excitement spreading across his face as he clapped his giant hands together. “Oh! I must go, Biscuit,” he said as he turned his attention toward the brightly dressed half-elf. “My bestest of friends needs me and I cannot keep him waiting! Perhaps today is the day he declares me is best friend over Tucker.”

Donut simply nodded at that, waving goodbye to Caboose as he stomped off with absolute glee, leaving Frank alone with the Reds. Frank turned to look at them, opening his mouth to introduce himself but stopped with a startle as suddenly Donut was inches away from his face.

“Well, hello there!” the half-elf said, a large smile across his face despite the scar across half of it. “Who are you? It isn’t often we get a new face around here! Two so close to each other is certainly a reason to celebrate!”

Frank blushed as he took a step back, a nervous laugh escaping him as he cleared his throat. “My name is F-”

“YOU CAN CALL HIM DOC.”

The sudden shout caused Frank’s introduction to die in his throat, turning his head to see Church peering across the field with another smug smile on his face that Frank could see clearly despite the distant. 

“Doc, huh?” Donut said, tilting his head to the side as the cleric turned his attention back to him.

For a second, he was planning to argue. That wasn’t his name, that wasn’t even his rank but...Oh, what was the point? He doubt Church was going to be calling himself anything else and it was just going to be easier to have everybody call him the same thing. 

“Yeah, Its...Doc,” he said, forcing a small smile on his face. “I’m a traveling cleric. I’ve been on the road for a while and have been looking for a place that might need somebody of my skills. I was hoping I could be use here in some capacity but the...Blues have already turned me down.”

“I see, I see,” Donut hummed as he nodded. “I’m the healer for the Red team buuuut, I never mind having help. It's amazing what having another hand to help soothe throbbing wou-”

“No.” The human suddenly cut him off with a glare, looking up from where he was seated on the ground. “No, dude. Just...Please stop. No more with that, please.”

The other half-elf stood up, revealing himself being the tallest of them all as he dusted off his robes. “Hey, Sarge! We need you over here!” he shouted, bringing Frank’s attention to where he had last seen the dwarf and...Oh, what had Church called her? Tex? Either way, they had stopped fighting and truthfully looked to be sharing fighting tactics.

At the half-elf’s call, they both stopped talking as they looked up. Without a word, they both went their separate way. The assimar heading toward the Blues while the dwarf headed straight for them. “Who in the Seven Hells is this, Simmons?” the dwarf questioned as he reached them, his accent thick but not the type of one that Frank had been expecting.

“New recruit, sir,” the half-elf, Simmons, explained. “Apparently Doc here is looking to join us.”

Frank blinked, quickly taking a step forward as all attention once again shifted to him. “I mean, I’m not exactly looking to join you, I just want to be of aid to anybo-”  
“Got any experience fighting, son?” the dwarf cut him off, his expression sour as he looked up at him.

“Oh no, I’m not a fighter in any sense. I’m a pacifist, my entire order looks down on partaking in fighting and I almost never have a damaging spell prepared. I understanding fighting is natural thought which is why I made it my goal to help heal those who do fight for the greater good.”

Sarge simply grunted in response, his expression still as sour as ever until Donut suddenly latched himself onto Frank’s arm. “Oh please, Sarge? Wouldn’t having another healer be super helpful? I mean, those Blues only have one and...Well, I’m more than happy to share my bed!”

“No need for sharing any bed, soldier. We have plenty of spared beds, after all our outpost was made for an entire guild, not just the measly few of us but...You do have a point. Having this...Doc fella would give us a straizing number over our opponents when it comes to healing.”

“...Well, if we can’t share beds, can we at least share a room?”

The dwarf paused, eying Frank up and down before he let out a thoughtful hum. “Having another healer would prove to be an asset over the Blues and their single healer...Fine. Congrats, son! You have just earned a very special spot on the Red team!” He spun, staring around at the gathered group around him before he paused. “...Where the hell is Lopez?”

Everybody glanced around at the mention of the name, other than Frank who just stood there confused on who that was. When nobody had an answer for Sarge, he simply sighed and motioned for them all to follow him. “Ah, that dragonborn can take care of himself. Come along, let's go get Doc here settled in.”

With that, the group headed off across the canyon floor - Sarge leading as he started to talk, motioning with his hands as he did. “You need to get one thing straight here, Doc, the Reds and Blues are at war at each other, no matter if we may...team up on the rare occasion. Keep your friends close, your enemies closer! In battle-axe range in case they try to do anything tricky.”

Frank furrowed his brow at that, thinking back on what Sheila had said. She had said that they were technically rivals, but didn’t worry about it, right? He opened his mouth, ready to say something when a hand flickered up to his face to cut him off. He blinked, turning his gaze to the human that had fallen in step beside him.

“Don’t. I know what you were going to say and...Don’t,” he sighed, giving a shrug of his shoulder as he folded his arms across his chest. “It's better to just...Go along with his delusion of war than argue with him against it, at least when you aren’t doing so just to mess with him. Saves time and energy, both of which is used for much better things than dealing with any of this shit.”

The cleric blinked, raising an eyebrow. “You certainly don’t seem very excited to be here.”

“I don’t get why he is here either, he is a lazy ass,” Simmons grumbled from the other side of Grif, causing the human to whirl around to face him. 

“I have my own reasons,” he countered sharply, giving an angry shrug of his shoulders. “I just don’t think its worth explaining to any of you assholes.”

Frank blinked at the hostitly before he nervously cleared his throat with a laugh. “How about you two?” he asked, glancing between Donut and Simmons. “Why did you two become adventurers?”

Simmons perked up, his eyes glimmering as he straightened to his full height with a grin. “Oh, well that is easy! I’m after knowledge and there is no better way to get experience like being an adventurer! Great way to try out new spells and-”

Grif interrupted with a glare. “I thought you were here to get away from your father,” he retorted, causing the half-elf to almost deflate at the sharp words. The wizard didn’t say anything else, but Donut quickly picked up the slack as he fell into step next to Frank. 

“Well I saw it as an opportunity as well,” he explained with a wave of his hands, magic dancing between his fingers as he continued. “Get to do some good in the world and make some new friends! Sure, my talents are the greatest at the moment but I know plenty of tricks to get by. I’m even willing to show you some of them if you want.”

Frank’s eyes glimmered as he realized that maybe he could have a different use here than just healing. He had healing spells after all but… “Oh! Maybe I should do check-ups on everybody once we get to your base,” he said, a smile forming on his lips. He glanced at the group, taking note of a weird look from Grif that made him nervously laugh. “I, ah, was training to be a doctor of sorts when my magical talents kicked in. I switched to being a cleric so that I could hone my magic into healing and...Well, it feels natural to do check ups. Magic is great in all, but the human body is interesting enough on its own.”

Having magic was great in all but there were ways to shut it down so there was a...Charm in the art of being able to patch up wounds without it. Being able to help even without magic had been a drawn to Frank - of course it had seemed moot when it turned out he could use magic himself. And there was times where a good physical could reveal stuff about a human body or even an injury you would only be able to figure out with strong magic.

Donut smiled as he leaned into Frank, nearly causing him to stumble. “Well I would love to be your first patient!” 

“Not so fast, Donut!” Sarge shouted, glancing over his shoulder with narrowed eyes. “We gotta get Doc settled in first, make sure he isn’t a Blue in disguise before any of these so-called ‘check ups’ happen.”

He startled at that, thrown off by the fact that the idea that he was maybe working for the Blues was something to be questioned - he had been nothing but forthright. He thought about saying something, arguing that he was a neutral party in all of this but Grif’s prior warning and also the sudden realization that they had reached the Red base caused his words to die in his mouth.

On the outside...The Red base was suspiciously similar to the Blue’s. Different enough that it wasn’t the same but close enough that it caused Frank to frown as Sarge pushed open the doors and they all followed inside. To Frank’s surprise, it was rather...Nice inside. In fact, he would dare to call it looking more like a home than an adventuring guild of any stretch of the imagination.

The walls were painted like a setting sun - warm shades of red and yellow, of course with no blue in sight. There were even pink clouds that gave away that it was a sunset, and Frank quickly guessed that it was Donut’s doing from the way he beamed once he saw that Frank was looking at it. There were a few bookshelves that stood off to the side, the books looking to have been painfully arranged to perfection with a few stacks still left to be sorted resting on the floor next to them.

On the wall was the tattered remains of a burnt red flag, no doubt a source of pride as it hung in clear view with nothing nearby to block it. The last thing that caught Frank’s attention was a little area of seating, a couch and two chairs with a small table with wooden plates littering it. Over all, the main room of the guild was...Nice. It had a sense of home that Frank wasn’t expecting at all, mostly with how ridge Sarge seemed to be.

As everybody piled in, they all started to separate across the room. Grif collapsed on the couch the moment he reached it, stretching out to take up every inch of it while Simmons followed with a sigh and started to scoop up the mess of plates. Donut remained at his side, clinging to his arm with a grin as Sarge proudly started to lead the way further into the living area.

“Welcome to the glorious Red base!” he proclaimed, motioning his hand to the tattered flag, drawing Frank’s attention to it once more. “This flag used to be the shining joy of the base, but it took great damage in the wars that we fight against the Blues.”

Grif interrupted with a snort, glancing up from where he laid sprawled out across the crouch. “Wars? More like games, Sarge,” he pointed out, his eyes flickering toward Frank with a slight grin. “We used to see who could capture each other’s flag first and get it back to their base. Only, fire spells got thrown around and Donut’s face wasn’t the only victim.”

“Grif! Don’t you soil the memories of those great battles!” the sargent shouted, stomping over toward the human. He continued to go on but Frank didn’t pay much attention, his gaze instead focused on the flag as he took the opportunity to get a closer look at it. He could feel Donut follow after him but didn’t spare the half-elf a glance as he came to a stop in front of the tattered remains of the flag.

“What are you doing?”

Frank finally spared a glance at Donut when he spoke up, a soft smile on his face as he motioned toward the flag. “I think I might be able to help, I’ve studied a few spells that might be of help.” As he turned his attention back onto the flag, he took note of how worn it was. Some of the damage wasn’t just from the fire but from general wear and tear over a long period of time. He could just faintly make out a curled up cobra in the center of the flag, the namesake of the team.

With careful hands, he reached out and ran his fingers along a gash that ran down the middle of it - looking like a sword had run through it during their fights. His hands started to glow as he muttered the incantines he had spent months learning and slowly the fabric started to stitch itself together. As he finished the spell, he became aware of a silence that had fallen over the room - Sarge had ceased his strong-worded scolding of Grif.

Frank took a nervous step backwards as he heard the heavy footfall of the dwarf, turning to look at Sarge as he came storming up and staring intently at the now partly fixed flag. “What in Sam Hill did you just do?” he questioned, his eyebrows knitted together with a look of confusion.

“Magic,” he explained, letting his hands light up once more with one of his more simpler spells. “It isn’t hard to fix small gashes in things. I can repair weapons, tears, armor...As long as the damage isn’t huge but I am sure I could figure out a spell that better at repairing larger damage. If you give me time, I should be able to practically fix this flag as good as new!”

There was a long silence as Sarge simply stared at him, his eyes narrowed before he spun to adress everybody in the room - including Simmons who had finally walked back in after taking care of the plates. “I have decided that Doc here is not a spy of the Blues and can stay here with us for as long as he likes.”

There was no time wasted as Donut let out a squeal of excitement, grabbing Frank’s arm as he tugged him out of the room and down one of the hallways. “Oh man, I can’t wait to show you my room! Or, well, our room I guess!” It didn’t take long to get there, and before he knew it, he was being pulled into Donut’s bedroom.

Like the living area, the room had an air of ‘home’ around it as well. For one, it looked very lived in. The walls were covered with art, all looking to having been hand-drawn by Donut. Papers covered the floor, and a quick look at a few near his feet caused Frank to realize that it was a mix of writing, drawings and song lyrics. A few books were scattered here and there, but everything had a sort of...Organized chaos to it. He had little doubts that Donut knew where just about everything was as he started to scoop up items to free up one of the beds.

“I was pretty lucky I guess to get my own room,” he explained as he started to put everything away into piles, flashing Frank a thankful look as the cleric started to help gather up loose papers. “Before you, I was the rookie of the team and everybody else already shared a room. Sarge and Lopez and then Grif and Simmons...Two beds per, so I got my own room.”

Donut paused as he turned, glancing back at Frank. “...Are you sure you don’t want to share beds?”

Frank smiled softly as he nodded his head, gently handing over the stack of paper he had gathered up to the bard. “I hate to feel like I am intruding and you are already being nice to to share your room. Honestly, I wouldn’t have minded having a room of my own but the company is always nice.”

For a second, the half-elf looked almost crestfallen but quickly recovered before Frank could wonder what it was about. “Right, that’s understandable,” he said as he took the papers, setting them down on his bed before he spared a glance at the now bare extra bed. “Well, you can get settled in - I need to go get ready to make dinner.”

“You are the cook around here?” he asked, finding himself surprised by that. Well, in hindsight he supposed he shouldn’t have as the others didn’t seem the cooking type but it still took him by surprise.

Donut sighed as he shook his head. “I’m the only one that ever cares about doing food right around here! Sarge has no class or skill, Lopez just makes everything bare, Simmons is strict when it comes to cooking and it just ruins all the fun and then Grif doesn’t care about cooking, just eating. I’m sure he could make something great if he tried but…” He simply finished with a shrug.

“Well...I could help.”

A small laugh escaped Donut as he smiled but shook his head. “I would love to have your help but I think it would be rude to ask so much of you when you have only just come! But I would love to have a one-on-one lesson with you at some point, but gotta let you build up your energy and get comfortable, you know? But thanks for the offer.” With that, Donut left the room and Frank found himself alone.

The cleric glanced around the room as he tried to figure out what exactly to do now. He didn’t exactly have much other than his bag - not enough to really spend time unpacking or anything. But...It was nice, having a bed and a roof over his head. He sighed in relief as he sat down on the bed, feeling it sink slightly beneath him. The Reds were a surprise - he wasn’t sure what to think of them at first but he felt like the inside of the base gave him a good idea of who they were. A family. A...Dysfunctional family but a family. Maybe staying here wouldn’t be so bad at all.


	6. Teamwork Makes the Dream Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, isn't this a surprise! I find that when I get back into the writing mood, I really get into the writing mood. This chapter was a bit trick to write, but I'll explain that (and some other news) at the end of this chapter. For now, enjoy~

If there was one thing this canyon had plenty of, it was rocks. Rocks of all shapes and sizes...Perfect to sit on and get a good view of the canyon. Grif sighed softly from where he sat on the top of one of the bigger rocks to be scattered around Blood Gulch. This rock was known to both teams for being in the near center of the canyon, marking the ‘border’ between the two Guilds’ sides of the valley.

Looking up at the sky, it was perfectly clear and was aiming to be just another boring day of sitting around and doing nothing...And honestly, Grif lived for those days. That was until he spotted movement in the corner of the vision, and for a second he dread that something exciting may be happening...Until he realized it was just Church.

The half-elf was attempting to be sneaky as he moved in the shadow of the canyon wall, his gaze more focused on making sure nobody was following him that he had failed to notice that Grif had spotted him. With a shake of his head, Grif reached into one of his side pockets and pulled out a copper wire which he twirled into a spiral around his finger before he raised it to his mouth and cupped it as he whispered softly.

“You aren’t being very sneaky, Church,” he said, and with a smirk he watched as the half-elf suddenly straighten up in surprise, automatically turning to stare at the rock. The moment their eyes met, he could see an annoyed look flicker across Church’s face before his voice whispered in Grif’s head.

“And you are a killjoy.”

“Well, not as much as the rest of my team,” Grif pointed out as he whispered again into the wire, watching as Church already had started to move in his direction.

“Fair enough.”

This was one of Grif’s better kept secrets - he was friends with Church. Well, maybe friends was a strong word. More like sometimes companions who liked to complain about their team members to each other. They both had a habit of sneaking out of their bases to get away from the rest of their side and ended up running into each other. Neither had been in a mood to fight, so they talked instead and now this was a common thing. About once a week, they would run into each other and talk.

It didn’t take long for Church to reach the rock, simply sparing a look up at Grif before his entire form melted into mist that curled up the rock. Without a sound, the half-elf rematerialized at his side, a soft smug look on his face as Grif raised an eyebrow at him. “Surprise you wasted a spell on just getting up here.”

“Surprised that you had the energy to climb up here,” Church retorted as he sat down next to Grif.  
A comfortable silence fell between the two as they just sat there next to each other, used to doing this despite being on ‘opposite’ sides. But finally, a question came to Grif’s mind as he turned to look at Church. “Say, what is up with that Tex chick? Where did she come from? Things has been so...Weird lately, I haven’t had the chance to act.”

The spellcaster blinked, an almost sheepish look flooding over his face. “Oh, Tex is my...Ex-girlfriend.”

What? Grif straighten up a bit, thrown off as he let out a laugh. “Seriously? How the hell is her standards low enough for you?” That earned him a punch to the arm, but he simply grinned at how easy it was to push Church’s buttons. “But seriously, how the hell did you meet somebody like her?”

There was a hesitation that fell over Church that caught him by surprise, but the half-elf quickly masked it as he gave a shrug of his shoulders. “She was a part of the local adventuring guild and I met her there.”

He was certain there was more to the entire thing then that but he chose not to push it. If Church didn’t want to talk about it, then Grif couldn’t give a damn. He knew better than to be nosey in other people’s business - besides, if people had secrets, it normally meant trouble and Grif liked being as far away from that as he could.

“How is your new member doing?” Church suddenly said, turning the tables onto Grif. 

The sorcerer groaned as he leaned back on the rock, rolling his eyes. “Doc and Donut have been getting along like two peas in the pod and it's annoying as hell. Donut’s level of chipperness is hard to deal with by himself, but Doc is nearly the same. It’s almost maddening how...Happy those two always are. They talk about cooking, gardening, healing…” he drifted off, sighing heavily.

Church snorted, a smirk on his face as he shook his head. “I’m happy I managed to pawn Doc off onto you guys. We already have enough to deal with. I mean, we got Tucker’s kid who is a handful, Caboose who is a giant idiot, Tucker who is annoying, And Tex...Tex is...Something.”

Grif didn’t miss the almost wistful sigh Church let out as he spoke about Tex, causing Grif to roll his eyes. He opened his mouth, ready to make a rather snide remark about it when something caught his attention - movement once again. He turned, scouring the shadow of the canyon wall until he saw it - a small shape lurking in the shadows.

It was wrapped in cloth and the shadows almost hide it but he spotted a flash of green as it went. For a second, he was tempted to say nothing - it hadn’t sounded like Church had spotted the goblin so if he said nothing...Nothing would happen. They could go on their way but it was rare for goblins to be by themselves. Chances are, this was just a scout.  
With a goarn, he sat upright as he gently elbowed Church in the chest, earning a hiss of surprise and pain from the half-elf. “Dude, goblin scout along the canyon wall,” Grif explained before Church could say a word, being careful to keep his voice lowered. “Doubt its alone, might already heading back to alert the rest.”

Church’s eyes followed where Grif was pointing, cursing under his breath himself once he saw it. “What do we do, take it out?” he questioned, only to frown when Grif shook his head.

“We take it out and the rest will know something is up when it doesn’t return. We know what direction it's going in, I say we gather up the rest of the guys and follow it. Launch an attack on the entire group and hopefully put an end to it before they can prepare...Only we are going to have the alert the others on foot cause my message spell only goes so far.”

“Shit,” Church groaned under his breath as he slide down the rock, quietly landing as Grif followed after him. “Let’s meet back here once we have everybody. We know what direction the goblin is in, chances are we can find the cave they are using to get in here.” Once Grif gave a silent nod, he turned and sprinted toward the base - remaining impressively quiet as he went and leaving Grif to his lonesome.

He sighed as he turned, his eyes searching for the goblin as he had the much more challenging task of sneaking by it, while Church just got to run in the opposite direction. Slowly, he started to inch his way forward. It took quite a bit of time, but finally Red base came into view...Along with Simmons reading a book in the shade like the nerd he was.

Grif paused a fair distance away as he once again whispered into the copper wire spun around his finger. “Hey, Simmons, we got a problem. Spotted a goblin scout, going to need backup.”

There was the faint echo as Simmons lett out a startled yelp, which Grif heard rather loudly through the magical connection. his gaze quickly scanning the canyon until he spotted Grif. “Goblins?” Simmons said, sounding still a bit rattled from the sudden shock of a voice in his head. “...Yeah, I’ll go get the others.”

“Sweet. Meet us at Peace Treaty Rock,” he explained - the rock being well known by both of the groups due to it being the only place Sarge would be willing to talk to the Blues outside of just before and after fighting a battle due to it being in the center of the canyon. “Blues are already on their way.”

There was a soft silence that drifted in the air before Simmons’ voice spoke up again. “What? How are the Blues already alerted about the goblins?”

Grif...Chose not to answer that as he turned, heading back toward the rock with full faith that the Reds would soon follow. He remained focused on keeping an eye out for the goblin scout and was rewarded when he saw it slip into one of the few tunnels that led out of Blood Gulch. It was easy enough to realized that it was one of the tunnels that led out into the deadlands, the entire reason the two adventuring groups were here was to stop monsters from leaving the deadlands and toward proper civilization...Which meant that the goblin horde would be in that direction. 

Making note of that, he picked up the pace now that he was in the clear of alerting the goblin and was the first to arrive to the rock. Off in the distance, he could see the Blues heading in his direction and a quick glance over his shoulder told him the same about the Reds. He raised a hand, sending another quick spell toward Church.

“Okay, everybody is here. What did you tell your team?” he asked, wanting to get their story straight. They had both made agreements to keep their so-called friendship a secret. They didn’t mind fighting each other when Sarge decided it was time for a battle, but they also knew that nobody would really get it...Well, maybe Lopez as he could more often than not be found at the Blue base. He wasn’t sure what was going on with the Dragonborn but he also didn’t care enough to ask Church about it.

“Told them that you spotted the goblin, alerted me with a spell ‘cause I was the closest person,” Church’s voice responded, causing Grif to nod. That...Made sense. Simple, and not exactly wrong. The type of lie Grif could get behind - easy to uphold as nobody was really going to question it.

Soon, both teams were gathered at the rock as Church stepped up next to Grif as the Red adventurer took a mental count of everybody. For once, both of the entire teams were here...Excluding Sheila and of course, Tucker’s little kid. Despite being pretty powerful, Sheila never partook in any fights and Grif had to question what her role was in this canyon...Other than being a babysitter for Junior when the groups were out fighting.

“Okay, listen up. I’m going to explain what is going on one,” Grif finally said once everybody had settled in, flinching slightly as all eyes fell onto him. He...Didn’t like being in charge. Way to much responsibility that he couldn’t care less about. When one was a leader, they were expected to do things and Grif just never had the energy for it. “I was being a lookout when I noticed a goblin sneaking along the wall. Wasn’t sure what to do about it but then I saw Church doing a patrol of his own so I alerted him to get the Blues while I got the Reds. I saw where the goblin go so I say we follow and take it out.”

There was a grumble from the ‘Red’ side of the group, Sarge folding his arms as he glared at the gathered Blues. “I don’t like this, working with the dirty Blues…”

“I’m just excited that after all this time in this forsaken canyon, I will get to kill something,” Tex said with a slight shrug, a vicious grin working its way onto her face. “Just stay out of my way and we won’t have a problem.”

Doc squeaked from where he stood between Donut and Lopez, pulling in on himself as he nervously clasped his hands together. “Oohhh boy,” he hummed, taking a slight side-step toward Donut. “I’ve never been in battle before but...I’ll do my best to heal!”

“Great, now that we have talked a little among ourselves, can we go deal with the maybe horde of goblins that are waiting for us?” Church questioned before anybody else could make a comment. At the silenced that followed, he shook his head and turned to look at Grif. “Now where the hell did you see this goblin disappear into exactly?”

Grif didn’t even bother with words, simply turning and pointing to the nearby cave entrance. At once, Church was marching past him as he took the lead, the others following in silence as Grif sighed in relief. He hated leading the charge, mostly when it would mean he would be expected to fight. He shook his head as he followed after the group, annoyance flooding through him as he thought about his magic.

Simmons would call the magic that Grif could do ‘powerful’ but it was more than a curse then anything in his option. His magic was...Wild, impossible to fully control as there was always a chance that when he was casting a spell, things would backfire. His smaller spells, such as his message didn’t pose a risk - not enough magic energy was being pulled forth to backfire in any way but his useful ones meant trouble.

If he had to use it, he would. But after that time he turned into a potted plant when he was little, he decided it wasn’t worth the risk unless his friends were in real trouble. And luck for him, somehow everybody in this canyon was pretty good at handling themselves so it was rare he had to cast anything bigger than a firebolt. And so he didn’t even bother with a firebolt most of the time.

And so, he was more than happy to allow Church to take the led on this mission. Honestly, for the most part, Church wasn’t the person you wanted to follow into battle. He could be - no wait, he was- an asshole most of the time but when he got serious...Well, he had a brain for planning. Grif almost dared to call him a nerd, but Simmons was the true nerd.

He watched as Church raised his hand to his chest as they entered the cave, the air around him turning into a faint mist as it started to cling to him as ice suddenly started to form like armor. And you know, Grif could be rather clever himself, enough to realize that something didn’t add up with Church. What gave it away the most was his spells. He only had a handful of big ones he could use, and maybe saying a handful was being generous.

When it came to using spells in battle, for being a self-called spellcaster, he didn’t use a whole lot of different ones. It was easier for Grif to take notice of it as he rarely had any reason to pay attention to the bigger thing and could focus on such small details. Hell, he was pretty sure Tucker could cast more spells than Church and Tucker was just a fighter with a knack for magic!

The group came to a halt as they reached the end of the cavern, pulling Grif from his thoughts as he nearly stumbled into Simmons. Behind the harsh sunlight that filtered into the exit of the tunnel, Grif could just make out a good deal of tiny forms. There had to be a dozen or more goblins that were lightly scattered around a makeshift camp, five strange-looking dogs resting off to the side while an armored one shouted orders from the back.

There was no doubt that they were outnumbered almost two to one, but that didn’t seem to faze the group as they slowly started to gather in the shadows of the cave. Doc, Donut, Simmons, Caboose and Grif himself all stood in the back as the main fighters started to gather at the entrance. Doc and Caboose both broke away for a second, Doc planting a hand on Lopez’s shoulder as he whispered a spell under his breath at the dragonborn while Caboose simply patted Church’s head, the glow of his hand the only sign a spell had been cast in the gesture. 

Church glared over his shoulder at Caboose as the goliath took a step back, but sighed as he shook his head. With a flicker of his hand, his wicked black sword appeared in his grip. With a nod of his head, Grif watched as the group charged into the goblin’s camp. The moment they were in the open, they split into groups as chaos erupted within moments. It was hard for Grif to follow along so his gaze remained focused on Church as the half-elf charged at a group of three goblins.

The fuck? Grif blinked, taken aback by such a...Brazen move. Out of everybody, Grif would dare to say that Church was maybe the easiest to take down. He had his ice armor, sure, but...What was he planning? As the physical fighters moved forward, Grif watched as Simmons took a step forward and raised a hand, three beams of fire releasing as - only two hitting two of the goblin dogs as they were awoken from their slumber with high pitched squeals.

Donut was the next to step forward, his eyes landing on the goblin closest to the leader as he raised a hand with a smirk. “I think you are going to be my friend,” he hummed as a faint charge of magic filled the air and a black crown of iron thorns appeared on the goblin’s head. For a second, it looked alarm but then an almost peaceful look fell over its face - other than for the madness that glimmered in its tiny eyes.

With that, the goblins suddenly started to fight back as they got over their shock. The one that Donut had targeted turned, pulling out its sword as it suddenly slashed at its own leader with a war squeal but the leader dodged out of the water. Grif’s eyes then fell back onto Church as the three goblins he were near pulled out their own swords and slashed at him. All three blades dug into his icy armor only for a sudden explosive of cold energy to wash over them.

When it faded, they were all frozen solid as they tilted backwards...And shattered hard onto the ground. What next caught Grif’s attention thought was the dark energy that formed on Church’s blade, curling around as it worked its way up his arm and settled around his chest, replacing the icy armor that had completely shattered from the attacks. That…

Grif hestated, wanting to question what the dark magic around Church was but was interrupted when the sound of an arrow caught his ear, causing him to stumble backwards...Only for it to hit Donut square in the shoulder. The bard squeaked in surprise as he stumbled from the blow, but simply shook his head as his eyes remained locked on his controlled golbin.

Both Doc and Caboose took the moment to step forward, Doc quickly whispering an apologize as he pulled the arrow out of Donut’s shoulder and healed the wound close. Caboose however, simply cupped his hands together as he shouted across the battlefield. “Go Church! You are awesome!” Magic flashed between his hands, and the relaxation of Church’s shoulders told Grif that Caboose had managed to heal what damage Church had taken with a simple spell.

Church raised his sword, aiming at the goblin leader as he shot a familiar beam of light blue energy. Following the path of it, Grif realized that the goblin leader had chosen to run toward Church, but it quickly dodged out of the way as it reached Church and slashed out at him. The dark energy that curled around the half-elf seemed to almost deflect the blow, the bulk of it fading as the sound of yapping drew Grif’s attention away.

The five goblin dogs had split into groups, two taking on Tex who had moved up to them while the other three charged toward Church and Tucker - who had moved up to help his teammate. Grif sighed as he raised his hand, aiming toward the most injured of the three dogs as he shot a quick blast of fire, his only long-ranged damaging spell that wouldn’t be a risk to himself or the others. It nailed the dog in the side of the face, causing it to crumble to the ground and remain there but the other two kept moving.

They attacked Tucker and Church, and while Tucker managed to dodge out of the way, Church simply elected to let the dark energy take the blow as it faded away completely. Another firebolt crossed the battlefield, this one by Simmons but it barely missed one of the goblin dogs on Tex as the wizard cursed under his breath.

In the chaos of the battle, Church and the goblin leader seemed focus on each other as the others elected to take out everybody else. Grif used another firebolt, hitting the dog that was attacking Church but it shook off the blow with a growl. “Lets try this…” Simmons sighed from where he stood next to Grif, raising his hand as he shot another three scorching rays - aimed at the leader and the two dogs. All three hit, the leader screeching as it nailed him straight in the chest but none of the three fell, causing Simmons groaned in disappointment.

There was a soft light next to Grif as Doc started to whisper another spell under his breath, a wave of holy energy cascading forth over the battlefield. As far as he could see, all the wounds closed up as the group started to put forth their final push to kill the goblins. Within seconds, Lopez and Tex were killing the dogs on Church and Tucker, leaving just the leader and the goblin Donut had controlled at the start of the battle. That was, until Simmons shot three magic missile at the controlled goblin, causing it to crumble to the ground without a sound.

The battle didn’t last much longer - with a war cry of his own, Church brought down his sword into the leader’s chest, impaling him to the ground as it let out a dying scream before everything fell silence. With the death of the leader, dark energy once again started to curl up Church’s sword before it settled around his chest.

The only sound that followed was the panting for breath by the fighters, gazes flickering down at the dead bodies that littered the small camp clearing. Nobody was in a hurry to to say anything until Tucker broke the silence. 

“Dude...What is up with that dark mist?” All eyes fell onto Tucker, then onto Church as everybody slowly became aware of it. For a second, confusion flickered over the half-elf’s face until he looked down at himself. Then it was shock, then nothing as he quickly shook his head, 

“Must be...Protection like my ice armor is,” he explained with a shrug, his voice oddly calm. “I just don’t think it hurts my attackers back which is lame.”

“...Why is it all dark and shadowy?”

For a second, Church seemed thrown off but he took a sharp step forward as he glared intently at his teammate. “Does it fucking matter? Magic is...Weird. Who knows why it does a lot fucking things.”

The suddenly snappiness of the response caused Grif to frown as he stood in the back, folding his arms over his chest. He understands being touchy about one’s magic but something seemed...Off to him. Like Church was hiding something, and honestly the aura of the magic gave him a weird feeling. His gaze snapped over to look at Doc, his frown growing deeper when he saw how nervous the cleric looked.

A few seconds of silence followed, nobody choosing to say anything as Church shook his head. His sword disappeared from his grip, the dark mist soon fading into nothing as he stared at the dead goblins. “Honestly, I was expecting a bit more of a fight.”

A laugh followed as Tex took a step forward, a sharp grin on her face and a wild look in her eyes. “I forgot what it was like to be in a real battle with a team at my side. My old group weren’t as much of a team as they were one for all. Complete the mission, don’t worry about the others. If they failed, it was on them but...Hmph, teamwork does have its perk I guess.”

Sarge growled as he took a step forward, craning his next to stare up at the assimar. “Don’t you get use to it, missy! This is only a temporary alliance! And now that these goblins are dead, we are back to being Reds and Blues!”

“Por favor, siempre formamos equipo cuando hay problemas. Es solo cuestión de tiempo,” Lopez groaned, covering his face with one of his clawed hands. [Please, we always team up when there is trouble. It's only a matter of time.]

“See! Lopez is in agreement! Only trouble comes from teaming up with your dirty Blues!”

Simmons cleared his throat as he straightened up, a soft smile on his face. “Honestly, Miss Tex has a point - when we work together, there is very little that can stop us. The greater the number, the easier it is to take down any foe. Why, none of us are even hurt after the battle!”

As Sarge spun to face Simmons, reprimanding him for sympathizing with a ‘Blue devil,’ Grif took the opportunity to slip over to where Church had wandered off. Honestly, Grif would love to see Sarge tear Simmons a new one but something was eating away at him as he came to a stop next to Church.

“You good, dude?”

Church turned to stare at him, a few seconds lingering between them before he sighed. “Yeah...Yeah, I’m good. Just...Thinking,” he responded, turning his gaze up to the sky. Grif followed his gaze, staring at the dark clouds that could just be seen forming on the horizon. They had been impossible to see before thanks to the canyon wall, but now that there was just a barren landscape in front of them…

For a second, Grif was going to say something but didn’t get a chance before Church suddenly turned and stormed away. The sorcerer turned, watching with silent surprise as he headed back into the tunnel. Caboose was the first of the Blues to notice that their leader was leaving, quickly chasing after him while the Tex and Tucker soon followed.

Sarge cut off, mid-word as he realized that the Blues had left and an uncomfortable silence fell over the group. “What is up with the Blues?” Simmons asked, frowning as he stared after where they had disappeared. Grif shook his head, wishing he had an answer of any type for his friend.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing fight scenes can certainly be fun, but big ones like this? Well, my mom found me sitting in the kitchen at midnight with D&D minis as I planned out the combat. I'm sure she was judging me as she was turning off the lights and honestly, I'm fine with that. This was a chapter I've been waiting to do for a while - to show off that the Reds and Blues in this universe are more of a team player then they were in canon at this moment and also play around with some abilities that haven't really been seen...Like Donut in combat. He might be sweet but he is skilled at turning his enemies against each other or just trying to remove them from the fight all together.
> 
> But, I also mentioned I had more news. And that is that I have the next two chapters already written, and the two following that fully planned out more or less. So, I'm going to be trying to stick to a weekly schedule of releases - every Saturday, a new chapter will come out. However...If I manage to get more than a five chapter buffer, I will release a chapter right away (but a chapter will still come out that Saturday) The buffer is so that I will hopefully have enough time to write up a chapter if I start to run out - I'm a fast writer when I need to be...Does help that I am still refusing to proof read these chapters. =p
> 
> Hopefully this, along with little bite-size goals I am setting for myself will mean I won't have another huge drought in updates again. Both D&D and Red vs Blue means a lot to me, so this fanfic is dear in my heart and...Honestly, I want to get to the big reveals as much as you guys do. That being said...I am happy to say that the real plot will start next chapter so that is something to look forward too.


	7. Roll For Intitative

“What is everyone’s problem,” Church growled as he stormed away from his base. It had been a few days since the battle with the goblins and both sides had been sticking to their bases. He hadn’t seen head or tails of the Reds - not even Grif at their normal meeting spot. All of the Reds were annoying - even if he tolerated Grif but...He needed a break. He needed to think.

Everybody had been nosy when it came to his spellcasting - before they hadn’t ask questions but now, for whatever reason, they were starting to question it. Why his spells were different from everybody’s, why they did what they did...And he couldn’t tell them the truth. Not even Sheila...Not even Tex knew. They wouldn’t understand. Or...Maybe she would, but he wasn’t sure what was more terrifying. 

He had always told himself that it was better to avoid the past, focus on the here and now but...Tex being around was making it hard. Memories he had been trying to ignore were coming back, he was being forced to think about what had happened to him and what choices he had made. And honestly, they were all the type that he would like to ignore.

He growled to himself as he started up the path to his scouting spot, figuring watching the Reds would help him take his mind off of everything. At least they had no ties to his past, they were just unlucky enough to be put in the middle of nowhere because of it. He honestly wasn’t sure what his father had been thinking when it came to creating the Blues and Reds bases - he guessed it was based on the idea that people worked better when there was contest between others. It had been something he had hard-wired into the Freelancers after all, to be the best of the best.

He was drawn from this thoughts as movement caught his gaze, turning to see a rock bouncing down the cliff face next to him. As it came to a stop, he shook his head and took a few steps before he suddenly froze. There hadn’t been any sound coming from that rock. His gaze snapped upwards toward the top of the cliff face, spotting more movement above him as he threw a hand over his chest and summoned his icy armor.

The air chilled for a moment as the ice took form, barely weighing anything just as two arrows streaked through the air. With a quick step to the side, one clunked off of the ice but the other dug itself in into shoulder. The ice crackled against it as thorn-covered vines suddenly bursted from the arrow, curling around Church and shattering the ice completely. 

He struggled against the vines, growling to himself as vines dug into his body with every movement. His eyes flickered up at the top of the cliff, finally seeing who had attacked him. His blood ran cold as he found himself staring up at a half-orc. He could make out a smug grin, the orc’s black hair slicked back as a rather impressive mustache curled around his face.

“R-Reginald?” Church sputtered, recognizing the half-orc as one of the top Freelancers. He had never spoken much to the half-orc but was well aware of his skills. And that was to take out his enemies before they could spot him. He stopped struggling as he muttered another spell underneath his breath, allowing the weight of his body to disappear and he melted into mist. The few seconds of weightlessness always felt weird before he reformed a good few feet away, watching as the vines withered with nothing to hold onto. 

“Ah, I suppose I should have seen that coming, old chap,” Reginald sighed as he leaned over the edge of the cliff, his bow still held as he gave a mocking wave toward Church with his free hand. “Hello there, Church. How pleasant to see you again.”

Church narrowed his eyes as he whispered another spell underneath his breath, feeling the magic settle around him. “Can’t say it goes both ways,” he grumbled, before he raised his voice. “What the fuck are you doing here, Reggie?”

The half-orc straighten up a little at that, looking cheery as ever as if he hadn’t just shot Church in the goddamn shoulder. “A little rumor, to be honest. I had heard that you were alive and...Well, I had to follow up on the lead.”

He hesitated at that, opening his mouth to respond when suddenly a flash of pain racked his body. His breath escaped as a hiss, his hand flying up to the arrow that was still embedded into his shoulder. Reginald hadn’t moved at all during that, and Church realized that he was an assassin. The arrows...They must have been poisoned. 

He growled past the pain as he straightened up, pulling the arrow from his chest as he did so. He winced at the pain, but ignored it as he spoke. “So...Can I ask why a rumor I am alive is causing you to try to kill me?”

“Kill you? Oh no, Church. I’m not here to kill you - and besides, I’m not here because of a rumor. I’m here for business that just so happens to involve you.” As he finished talking, he pulled up his bow and sent two arrows at Church. The half-elf responded quickly, throwing up his hand as he summoned his sword. It appeared in his hand as he swung at one of the arrows, deflecting it but the other sank into his other shoulder.

The sudden pain caused him to fall to his knees, but he quickly pulled himself back to his feet as he raised his sword and send a blast of light blue energy at the assassin. The energy missed as Church stumbled, hissing as a new heated wave of pain flooded over him. “W-What the hell are these arrows coated in?” he groaned, but the only answer he got was the sound of two more arrows firing...But also sound of fast approaching footsteps, followed by him being rammed at full force. 

He was thrown to the side, quickly using his sword to stop his rolling as he groggily looked up to see Tex standing there, two new arrows in her shoulder as she glared up at the half-orc. “What the fuck, Reginald?” she shouted as she spun to face him, a sneer on her face. “What the hell do you think you are doing?”

“Tex. Of course you would show up,” he sighed as he lowered his bow. “This doesn’t concern you.”

She had the audacity to laugh at that, a wild look in her eyes as she straightened up. “Doesn’t concern me? Buddy, the only one who gets to lay the beating on Church is me. So get the fuck down here and fight me.”

Reginald titled his head at that, chuckling softly as he shook his head. “Oh Tex, you know I know better then that. I may prefer to fight at a distance but I am not an idiot - I can’t hope to take you down. So…” he slung the bow over his shoulder as he stood up, his gaze falling on Church. “Count yourself lucky, Church. We will have to continue this another time.” And with those words, he turned and disappeared.

Church groaned as he started to push himself to his feet, his gaze being brought back up as the sound of Tex punching the cliff caught his attention. “Tex...Are you okay?” he managed, his gaze remaining locked on the two arrows lodged into her shoulder. As she turned to face him, another wave of pain caused him to collapse, coughing painfully into his sleeve. It felt wet, and he had a feeling that wasn’t a good sign.

He could hear the sound of footsteps grow louder as Tex walked over to him, followed by her hands being gently placed on his shoulder. For a second, he felt the warmth of her healing but the pain soon caused it to diminish quickly. But still, he pushed himself to his knees, taking a quick glance at his sleeve...Which was stained red from the blood he had coughed up.

“What the hell was that about?” she questioned as she gripped his shoulder, steadying him.

“I don’t know...He claimed it was business.”

“...Are you okay?”

There was a moment of hesitation from Church as he thought about how to answer that, before he shook his head as he lowered himself back onto the ground. “No. No I am not okay,” he groaned as he rolled onto his back, tilting his head to he was staring at Tex. Her eyebrows were knitted together in a rare look of concern. “I think there was something on the arrows,” he rasped.

Tex’s frown deeped as she glanced at her shoulder as if she was finally remembering that she had two arrows in it. With a storng tug, she pulled them both out as she studied the arrow tips, giving a shake of her head. “I’m certainly not feeling anything if he did coat it...Come on, we need you get you to Caboose.” 

She tucked the arrow heads into the pouch at her side before she carefully scooped up Church. He groaned in pain as he was jostled, closing his eyes as he relaxed in her arms. “Why...How did you get here so fast?” he questioned as they started to move, wincing with every heavy step that shook him.

There was a few seconds of silence before Tex finally gave an answer. “I was...Following you,” she admitted, her voice turning to a snarl as she went on. “I had the feeling something was off and saw Reginald attack you. If I had been faster, maybe…” she drifted off, her voice coming soft curses under her breath.

Church didn’t respond other than for a groan, the pain already slowly getting stronger. What had been waves of pain had built into a steady, burning sensation. It felt like his own blood was on fire, and despite his best efforts, the pain started to dig up memories. Old feelings of panic started to overtake him, causing him to shift and turn in her grip as he tried his damndest to bury it - unwilling to allow the dreadful memories to overwhelm him.

He felt Tex pull him closer to her chest, her pacing picking up as she whispered soft prayers under her breath in Celestial, along with a few swears aimed toward Church for being an idiot. Church lost track of all time, letting everything blur together until Tex was kicking open the front door to the base and shouting at the top of her lungs. “Caboose! Get your ass in here!”

Church shifted as he pulled himself back to full awareness, the panic in his chest having settled for the moment as Tex carefully placed him on the couch. Refusing to lay down, he pushed himself upright, leaning on the back of the couch for support as he heard the quicken footsteps of the rest of his team as Tucker, Caboose and Sheila came rushing into the main room.

While Shelia and Caboose didn’t stop the moment they saw him, Tucker completely froze as his eyes widen, his mouth hanging open for a second before he spoke. “Wha-Why the fuck do you look like shit, Church?”

The half-elf glared at him as Caboose and Sheila reached him, gathering up the strength to talk as Caboose gently placed his hands on Church’s chest and sent a wave of healing through him. But, much like Tex’s attempt to heal him, the pain soon quickly overtook the healing, causing Church to wave the goliath away while Sheila simply sat on the couch next to him and squeezed his hand in support. “I got ambushed, thank you very much,” he spat in Tucker’s direction, the warmth of blood in his mouth causing him to gag slightly.

Tex growled as she started to pace, shaking her head as her hands were balled into tight fists, turning even paler. “It was fucking Reginald at that! I don’t know why the bastard is here but…”

Shelia completely froze at the name while Tucker just looked confused, glancing between the two women. “Who the fuck is Reginald and what kind of name is that in the first place?”

“Reginald was one of the adventurers at the Freelancer guild,” Sheila sighed as she turned to look at him, making it impossible for Church to read her face as she was turned away. “He was the guild’s assassin, skilled at taking out his enemies before they could see him or even react.”

Tucker blinked, before he let out an annoyed sigh as he turned his full attention to Church. “What the fuck happened at the Guild that is making so that all of the ex-Freelancers are trying to kill you on sight?”

Church shook his head as he closed his eyes, sinking a bit deeper into the couch. “Fine. I guess you and Caboose deserve an explanation. When I said that the guild fell apart to an inter-party conflict, that is putting it lightly. It was more like a civil wa-” he was cut off as another painful series of coughs racked his body, his arm shooting up to cover his mouth as he waited for the pain to die down.

“I’ll explain it,” Tex sighed, her weight shifting as she took over the conversation. “Not everybody in the Freelancer Guild saw eye-to-eye on things, so when myself and other of the Freelancers found out about some...Unpleasant things happening in the shadow.”

Church flinched at the mention of it, feeling Sheila tighten her grip on his hand as she gave him a reassuring squeeze. Unpleasant things...That was putting it lightly but Church was thankful she was skipping over the truth. It...Didn’t matter anymore. He wrapped his free hand across his chest, listening as Tex went on.

“We managed to gather up a few of the Freelancers who were willing to question what was really going on in an effort to reveal the truth. We attack our own men, those who were loyal to the Guildmaster fought on his behalf. In the end...What happened that night led to the downfall of the guild. But it doesn’t make sense why Reginald would attack Church like he did - he was one of the Freelancers that had been loyal to the Guildmaster.”

There was a long moment of silence before Tucker let out an impressed whistle. “Wow. So you're telling me that you led a goddamn revolution that led to the downfall of the greatest Guild? That is...Pretty fucking awesome.”

At that, Church’s eyes flew open as he pulled himself from Shelia’s grip and onto his feet, a snarl escaping him. “But it wasn’t worth the goddamn price!” he shouted as he spun to glare straight at Tucker, feeling his body shaking from the sudden rush of anger, along with the pain. “...But it wasn’t worth _her.”_

He felt Sheila grab his hand again, tugging him back into the couch as the rage disappeared as fast as it had overtaken him. He didn’t put up much of a fight as he collapsed next to her, his eyes falling close again as he fought back the memories of when he had received the news. 

There was a long silence before Sheila spoke up again, her voice soft as she squeezed Church’s hand. “There was a single death that happened that night. Church lost...No, we all lost somebody special. Carolina was one of our best and nobody could have expected what happened. Perhaps it was her loss that truly caused the guild to crumble.”

There was an even longer silenced after that, Tucker being lost for words for once and Tex was no doubt silently blaming herself for what had happened that night. Finally, it was Caboose’s soft voice that broke the quietness. “It is very hard to lose people you care about,” he said, his voice even and oddly serious.

“What now?” Tucker finally asked.

“It's impossible to find Reginald if he doesn’t want to be found,” Shelia sighed, the sound of her shifting away to turn the others. “He also isn’t one to give up a hunt, so we will just have to wait until he makes another move.”

The others started to talk, but Church ignored them as he flickered open his eyes and stared down at his blood stained robe. His blood still felt like it was burning, but slowly he was getting use enough to the pain to ignore it. But as he stared down at himself, he sighed softly to himself. “Το αξιζω,” he growled to himself in Infernal. [I deserve this.]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, the start of the plot! I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while, as I really love Wyoming...Or, well, Reginald as he is known in this fanfic. Trying to figure out his class/race was interesting, and in the end I settled on a half-orc ranger/rogue. As Shelia mentioned, he is an assassin. He is skilled at doing a lot of damage when he isn't seen, but not being so good at a straight-up fight. Wyoming was never the very...Direct sort in the show so I decided to show that off with his class - he prefers to act from the shadows and down his opponents before they are even aware of him. 
> 
> And slowly but surely, we are getting a bigger picture of what exactly when down at the Freelancer Guild but the full picture will come in time. I didn't do much work on this fanfic in the last week but I still have the next chapter written up so we are still on track with uploads- hopefully I will work on planning/writing this weekend so I can increase my backlog of chapters.


	8. Side-Effects May Include...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with this chapter, I run out of my backlog. If there is anything I blame, its my own putting it off and then the new World of Warcraft expansion dropping this week. Almost all of my free time has gone to playing that...But do not worry, the next two chapters are planned out and I've started to write the next one. It shouldn't take me super long to finish writing it, I just need to seriously sit down and do so...So there should be an upload next week. And honestly, if there isn't...I have other fanfics I could publish. Its nice releasing content every week.
> 
> I don't have much to say in regards to this chapter. The shortest one yet, but not by much. Up to yesterday, I wasn't the happiest with the start of it but I did a quick rewrite and now I am liking it much better. So, uh, if the start is a bit...Weird that is because I just rewrote a few paragraphs in the middle of it and I don't know if I will ever believe in proof-reading. I think the most exciting thing is that I was reading the chapter summaries for later ones and realized in the grand scheme of things...Some of the moments I am most excited for aren't that far away. 
> 
> I also don't think I mentioned this but my final chapter count for the fanfic might be around...60. I haven't added that properly in because I don't have all the chapters planned out (Up to about 43 are set in stone thought in the rough planning stage) so it might change. I however see the fanfic split up into two parts - the parts that cover Season 1-5 and Season 6-10. I may split this into two fanfics as they both have their own main plots, I haven't quite decided yet...I suppose you will know when I update how many chapters are planned to be in this fanfic in the future.

“I hate it enough when Junior gets sick, but this? This is a thousand times worst.”

Tucker watched as Church straighten up from the bush he had just been vomiting in, turning to glare at him as he brushed the sleeve of his robe across his mouth. It had been a few days since that Reginald character had attacked Church, and while for a bit, Church was getting better, he had fallen sick the in the last day or two and had been vomiting almost non-stop.

“I’m not sick,” Church growled as he pushed past Tucker, causing the human to give him an incredulous look.

“Bullshit. You have been throwing up like crazy. What would you call it, morning sickness?”

That caused Church to come to a complete stop, a few moments of silence drifting between the two before Church shook his head and brushed past him with a snort. "It...Doesn't matter, Tucker."

The human paused, turning to follow after his friend. "Doesn't matter? Like fuck it doesn't! It's been days and you have just been getting steadily worse! If it isn't sickness then what the fuck would you call it?"

The half-elf opened his mouth, ready to say something but instead he was cut off with a ragged, wet cough as he suddenly stumbled forwards and onto his knees. His hands flew out, barely catching him as his whole body shook as he vomited onto the ground. 

"Shit! Church, are you..." Tucker raced to his friend's side, dropping to his knees as well as he planted a steady hand on Church's shoulder but his voice grew quiet as he stared at the pool of blood that was slowly collecting on the ground as Church finished throwing up. "Blood? Y-You are throwing up blood?" he said, his voice numb for a second before he shook his head, gathering himself. "What the fuck, Church! Why didn't you say...Holy shit," he paused again, suddenly putting two and two together. Church had been getting steadily worse since the fight with Reginald, an assassin. "You are fucking poisoned, aren't you!"

As Church's rather painful sounding vomiting finally ceased, there was a long moment of silence before he sighed and dropped his head in defeat. "...Yeah. Yeah, I think I am. I just...There isn't anything you guys can do. Caboose hasn't been able to do a thing and I think this isn't...A normal position."

What the fuck, Tucker repeated in his head, staring at Church with an appalled look. He had been poisoned for days and he hadn’t bothered to tell him? “What the hell do you mean it isn’t ‘normal poison’?” he questioned.

Church shook his head, giving his shoulders a weak shrug as he shakily pushed himself fully to his knees. “I mean...From what I can tell, it was meant for me. Tex is fine despite the fact that she got hit with two arrows herself and I doubt Reggie was careless enough not to coat all of his arrows in it so he wouldn’t have to pay attention to which ones he was grabbing.”

“So...What? It's a poison against humans or elves or something?”

That only caused Church to shake his head harder, folding his arms across his chest as he made a point not to stare at Tucker. “No, I mean that its for _me._ Its targeting…” he drifted off, a true hesitation before he found the words to carry on. “It's just...Targeting me,” he said softly.

Tucker blinked, an almost hurt look falling over his face along with a mixture of anger. “How? What the fuck are you talking about, Church?” he argued, giving his head a shake of his own. Days. Church had been fucking poisoned for days but had said nothing? He wanted to snap at Church, but his eyes once again fell to the pool of blood as all of his anger seemed to fade away into just worry and...Tiredness. “Fuck,” the human cursed under his breath. “Why the fuck didn’t you say how bad this is?”

“...Because I’ve been in more pain then this, Tucker.” There was no sarcasm to those words as Tucker drew back, blinking in worry. He wasn’t sure what worried him more - Church’s current state...Or that he was pretty sure Church wasn’t lying. 

He gave a shake of his head as he pulled himself together, gripping Church’s shoulders as he pulled the half-elf to his feet. “No, no, we aren’t doing this. We need to get get Doc. Caboose might not be able to help but maybe a real cleric can...But you are going back to the couch.”

There was no argument from Church as Tucker pulled him along, easily getting him inside the base and back onto the couch. As he settled Church down, he looked up at the sound of footsteps as Shelia entered the room, looking concerned as her gaze flickered between the two. “Is Church alright?”

“No, he isn’t. Apparently this fucker has been poisoned since the battle with Reginald but neglected to tell anybody,” he explained, watching as her expression shifted from concern to horror. Annoyance flickered in Tucker’s chest at that - he had figured that if Church was going to tell anybody, it was going to be Shelia or Tex but apparently Sheila had no idea and he doubt then that he told Tex about it. “I’m going to head over to the Red base and see if I can get them to lend us Doc. Can you make sure Church doesn’t make a run for it or anything?”

As Sheila nodded and moved to take a spot at Church’s side, Tucker wasted no time in leaving the base and started his trek across the canyon. That motherfucker, he swore as he shook his head. What the fuck was his problem? Church had always been cagey about his past, but they had a deal. They didn’t ask each other about their pasts, but that was back when it wasn’t important. Now Church’s past kept trying to fucking kill him.

And it was getting worse - he wasn’t sure if it was the mix of the nightmares, apparently being fucking poisoned, or something else but Church was getting more on edge about things. Any attempt to ask general questions about his past or about his magic would be shut down before the question could really get out there. He was hiding something, something that Tex and Sheila were helping to keep in the dark but...Even they didn’t seem to know the full picture. And he had a feeling that whatever they didn’t know was the answer to the entire goddamn puzzle.

But what Tucker couldn’t figure out is what type of secret it could be. Sure, he only knew a handful of things about Church’s past. Church’s dad was a bastard, enough that Tex tried to kill him when she thought he was working for his dad. Tex had figured out something about the Freelancer Guild, something big enough to cause a civil war and somehow, a girl named Carolina who apparently Church was close with or something had died. But what the hell had Tex figured out? How had this Carolina chick died? And why the fuck were they all so cagey about it.

“What the fuck do you think you are doing?” A sudden voice in his head caused Tucker to jump, yanking him out of his thoughts as his hands flew toward his sword and he glanced around. He had gotten so distracted, he hadn’t noticed how far he had come to the Red base and could just make out Grif standing at the edge of Tucker’s spell range. It was a fucking message spell.

He sighed as he let go of his sword, shaking his head. “I come in peace. I just...Need to borrow Doc for a bit.”

There was a long silence of no reply, Tucker raising an eyebrow as he stared at the distance form of Grif before finally his voice echoed in his head again. “That...Might be a problem if you don’t know anything about it.”

“What? Don’t know anything about what?” he asked, but there was no reply as Grif turned and disappeared in the direction of the base. Tucker sighed to himself as he jogged after him, quickly covering the distance. By the time he arrived at the base, four of the Reds were standing outside the base, waiting for him. Grif, Simmons, Sarge and Donut.

As he approached, Sarge did the same as he pointed a finger up at the human. “What have you rotten Blues done to my men?” he questioned sharply, causing Tucker to stop in his tracks.

“What the fuck are you going on about?” he questioned, raising his gaze up any of the Reds who could hopefully explain it.

Simmons sighed, speaking up before Sarge could say anymore. “Lopez has been missing for two days. Doc too, I guess.”

“I was the first to notice when Doc didn’t come to bed two nights ago!” Donut said, shifting his weight between his feet nervously as he messed with the edge of his leather armor. “It wasn’t like him, he is normally always comes to bed in time and there hasn’t been any trace of him since!”

“And then we realized that we haven’t seen Lopez in that time either. He is bound to disappear but he hasn’t been gone this long before!”

Tucker nodded his head, having a pretty good idea of Lopez’s random disappearances they were talking about. There were a few times when they would just find him hanging around the Blue base, but he hadn’t bothered to care enough why to get an answer out of it. “Well...That isn’t good,” he sighed, folding his arms across his chest. “We didn’t have anything to do with either of their disappances - in fact I came over to see if I could borrow Doc.”

“I was wondering about that,” Grif said, a smile flickering on his face. “Why exactly do you need to borrow Donut’s boy-toy?”

“He is not my boy-toy!” Donut argued, annoyance in his voice but...Tucker honestly couldn’t tell what part of it Donut was annoyed about. The fact that Grif had called Doc that or the fact that Doc wasn’t his…

Tucker just decided to ignore that as he answered Grif. “A few days ago, Church got ambushed by an ex-Freelancer-”

“A Freelancer?” Sarge perked up at that, his eyes glimmering. “What the hell is a member of such a once renowned guild doing out here?”

For a second, he was thrown off as his voice died. What? But then it hit him, the Reds didn’t have a clue about Church’s past or even that Tex or Shelia both were employed by the guild. “Church’s dad was apparently the guildmaster there,” he explained. “But we aren’t sure why this guy attacked Church cause last he knew, the guy was loyal to his dad.”

Grif gave a shrug, looking bored. “Maybe Church’s dad sent the dude, I know Simmons’ dad would do the same.”

“No, that wouldn’t make sense. Church’s dad is like...Protective of him or something - sent him out here to Blood Gulch to stay safe after the Freelancer Guild collapsed on itself. Told the other Freelancers that Church had died even to keep suspicion away from him. No, this guy isn’t…” 

Suddenly, Tucker drifted off as something hit him. Sheila had told them that this Reginald guy wasn’t going to give up easily. Tex had been on near constance lookout in order to make sure he stayed far away but… There was no base that had no knowledge of this threat. “Holy shit, I think the Freelancer guy fucking kidnapped Doc and Lopez.”

“What? Why would we he do that? Doesn’t he know that we oppose your Blues just as much as he does! Why, if I saw him I would give him a medal for almost taking out your leader!”

“Why else?” Grif said with a shrug. “To lure us out.”

As that answer hung in the air, the group stared at each other as they all silently weighed what to do now.


	9. On The Trail

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And here we are, new chapter with still no backlog...But hey, I am keeping up with my upload schedule which I suppose is what matters here. As you guys may have noticed, there is now a set chapter number for Wayward Scion meaning we are 1/3 of the way through (which is exciting yet nerve-wracking at the same time because of everything I have planned). But, there will be more chapters then this - I have entirely planned for the story of Wayward Scion shall be split into two fanfics. I already know what I will call the sequel (which will cover the events of Season 6-10) but I'll talk more about that when I start to get closer to the end of this fanfic and the start of the sequel.

Church grumbled to himself as he pressed himself further into the couch, wishing he could just sink in and avoid the torn look that Sheila was giving him. It had been a few minutes since Tucker had left to fetch Doc. Nothing had been said between the two, Church being more focused on ignoring the pain that coursed through him and Sheila...Well, he guess he couldn’t blame her for being upset about the entire thing.

“Poisoned. You didn’t tell me that he poisoned you?” she finally said, her voice soft. It caught him off guard, expecting her to sound more...Angry about it as his gaze flickered up to look at her.

He sighed as he curled his arms around his chest, turning his attention away as he gave a weak shrug of his shoulders. “It isn’t...There wasn’t anything you guys could really do about it so...Didn’t see a reason to do so. Why bother you guys about stupid shit like this?”

He felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder. “Your life is not ‘stupid shit,’ Church,” she scolded as she gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I’m on your side, Church. You know that - I have been ever since your father assigned me to watch over you.”

“...Doesn’t change the fact that there isn’t much you guys could do. Whatever Reginald fucking hit me with...Its meant for me. It isn’t a normal poison, there isn’t an easy cure.”

There was a long silence, and that only caused Church’s stomach to sink. “Meant for you? What do you mean by that?”

“..Like I told Tucker, I’m pretty sure the poison was meant to target me in particular.”

“This...Does it have anything to do with what your fath-”

Church leaped up from the couch, cutting her off as he yanked himself out of reach of her arms. “I don’t want to talk about my fucking father!” he growled, wincing sightly as the sudden movement caused a wave of pain to flood through him but he quickly ignored it as he spun to look at her. “I don’t want to even think about him or what he did!

“Everything is his fault! He was never the same since my mom died and all of my fucking problems can be linked back to him! What happened to Carolina, what I _did-”_ he cut himself off at that, blinking as he mentally scolded himself. He...He couldn’t tell them that - they wouldn’t understand. 

Shelia looked conflicted and rather confused as she looked up at him. “What are you talking about? What happened with Carolina was an accident,” she said softly, raising her hands in a soothing motion as she reached out for him. “Nobody could have guessed what Maine would...He snapped bu-”

Church cut her off before she could say more, his pitch raising in hysterical. “Don’t say things like that!” he said, not missing the hurt look that flashed over the wizard’s face. She didn’t know...Nobody knew, his father and the Counselor were nothing but skilled at keeping secrets but in the moment of panic that was rising in Church’s stomach, he didn’t honestly care. “What happened to Maine...I don’t….I can’t be...I don’t want to be like him!” he hands flew up to his face as he tried to get a reign in on his emotions. 

He could feel the sleeves around his arm fall, jerking his head away from his hands for a second as his gaze fell onto his bare skin. In the corner of his eyes, he could see Shelia about to say something but the words died her in throat as an uneasy silence both fell over them...Staring at the thin, but precise scars that lined his arms.

Before they could say anything regarding them, the sound of the door creaking open interrupted the silence. Church jolted as he lowered his arms, letting the sleeves fall to cover the scars as he grabbed the edges just to make sure they didn’t slip again.

“We have a problem,” Tucker droned as he took a step in, halting the moment he saw Church as a sharp frown flashing over his face. “Dude, what the fuck? I told you to stay on the couch - why the hell can’t you follow something as simple as sitting in one place?”

Church rolled his eyes as he made his way back to the couch, pushing away all of his panic as he tried to establish the air of annoyance he normally held. “I don’t take orders from you, Tucker,” he pointed out, but paused as he spotted the Reds follow in after Tucker. “The shit? What the hell are they doing here? You said you were going to get Doc, not the entire Red team.” As he plopped onto the couch with a soft moan, he blinked as he realized that...Doc wasn’t with them. He opened his mouth, about to point that out when Shelia spoke up first.

“Where _is_ Doc? And Lopez?”

Tucker sighed as he gave a soft shrug of his shoulders. “That...Would be the problem. Apparently they are missing and I think Reginald took them.”

There was a long silence, Church hestating as he turned to see the color drain from Shelia’s face. Fuck, that...Wasn’t good. “...Why the fuck would he do that?” he asked, frowning as he glanced to look at the Reds. It didn’t make any sense - the Reds had no part in this, why would Reginald go after them? He was nothing but a professional, certainly he knew better than to get innocents wrapped up in whatever scheme he has.

Tucker shrugged, folding his arms arms across his chest as he gave an annoyed sigh. “Well Grif thinks its to lure us - or, well, you - out.”

That...Made more sense. Church sighed as he closed his eyes, rubbing a hand across his face. The assassin never did give up when it came to a hunt, and if his prey was hiding, it was better to lure it out to where he had the advantage. “Yeah, I can see that. Well...Fuck.”

He was going to say more when the sound of a door opening caught his attention, causing him to glance over the back of the couch to see Tex and Caboose strolling in from the back room. Tex’s eyes quickly narrowed as she spotted the Reds, crossing her arms as she scowled. Caboose, however, darted straight for Church. As the goliath came up to the back of the couch, he patted Church on the head, causing the half-elf to flinch but he could feel the healing energies from the bard as the pain lessened.

“What are _they _doing here?” Tex growled as she came up to the side of the couch. “I thought they were only allow in after a fight - and I am more than happy to give them one.”__

__“If a fight if what you want, a fight is what you get, Missy!” Sarge barked as he strolled up to her, despite the fact that Tex quite literally towered over him. He had to crane his neck to look up at her, matching her scowl. “Two of my men have been kidnapped by this...Reginald fella or whatever you call him. Now, we want your help in getting them back, and I will not take no for an answer!”_ _

__There was another long moment of silence as everybody looked at each other before Grif broke the silence. “We do?”_ _

__“Yes, we do,” Sarge confirmed as he turned to look at the human, standing up as straight as he could as he allowed his gaze to flicker over everybody. “These dirty Blues are responsible for them being taken, so I expect them to help us. To prove that this isn’t some dirty trick of theirs and making sure we can keep an eye on them.”_ _

__“We’ll do it,” Church cut in as he pushed himself up from the couch. All eyes flickered onto him as he folded his arms, masking the sigh of relief at the dulled pain thanks to Caboose’s healing._ _

__Tucker was the first of the Blues to find his voice, blinking in surprise as he shook his head. “What the fuck, dude? We don’t owe them anything!”_ _

__“Maybe, but Sarge is right. It’s our fault that Lopez and Doc got taken…” he paused, his shoulders sagging slightly as he gave a soft shake of his head. “It’s my fault. I’m going to help.” Besides, he knew Sheila would make them go anyways if they didn’t volunteer but he didn’t bother to add that part out loud._ _

__“But you’re…”_ _

__“I’m fine, Tucker,” Church cut him off with an annoyed sigh. In all truth...For the moment, he was fine. Caboose’s healing would only dull the pain for an hour or so but hopefully...That would be enough time to save the others. Besides, if Caboose or Donut came with them, they could keep it at bay. He wasn’t quite sure why the poison was so resilience against magic, but he had a feeling it had to due to its nature and how it was attacking his blood in particular. “Trust me, I can handle this.”_ _

__For a second, Tucker looked torn as he stood there before he gave a soft shake of his head. “Well...I’m not going. No way am I leaving Junior behind. It's one thing to fight some kobolds and goblins that show up, it's a whole different thing to go chasing after a goddamn assassin. Unless you are certain you need my help, I want to stay here with my son.”_ _

__Church...Wasn’t surprised as he frowned for a second, before he gave a soft shrug of his shoulders. “...Fine. Caboose? Tex? How about you two?”_ _

__“Well, of course I want to stay close to you, Church!” Caboose chirped, clapping his hands together as he gave them a huge smile. “And besides, adventures sound like fun! I’ve never been on an adventure before!”_ _

__Tex was silent for a few seconds, before she gave a shrug of her shoulders and a small smile. “I don’t see why not. I’m the only one with real experience fighting Reginald and I wouldn’t mind having the opportunity to use my axe on his face after that sneak attack he did on you.”_ _

__“Now wait a god-dang minute!” Sarge barked, being all attentions back onto him. “There is no way in Sam Hill that I am leaving this canyon empty of Reds while you have two of your people staying here!” he said, motioning toward both Tucker and Sheila. “We may be working together to save my men, but you are still the enemies!”_ _

__“Well don’t you worry then, Sarge!” Donut cooed, being brave enough to pat the dwarf on the head with a smile. “I’m willing to stay behind! My skills aren’t as straightforward as your guys so I am more than happy to hold down the fort til you guys come back!”_ _

__“Are you sure about this, Donut?” Simmons asked, nervously rubbing his hands together. “I mean, you will be all alone for who knows how long!”_ _

__Donut only shrugged, his smile growing even wider. “I’m certain! I don’t mind staying behind, and besides, I have plenty of ways to pass the time! I’ll be more than happy to show you a few when you get back!”_ _

__The wizard paused, before he let a nervous laugh. “Ah...Right. A-Anyways,” he said as he straightened up, glancing back at the group with a slight frown. “Do...Any of us even know where to start looking for this...Reginald?”_ _

__There was a long silence, Church frowning as he realized that Simmons had a point. There wouldn’t be a trail for them to follow or anything, Reginald was skilled enough to know how to hide his tracks easily. But...Wouldn’t he want them to follow him if he was trying to lure them out? But where to start then… Oh. “Wait, I think I know where we can start our search,” he said, everybody’s gaze flicking toward him as he straightened up, putting his hands on his waist. “I can explain more on the way there, I’m just going to have to ask that you all trust me.”_ _

__He was about to take the lead when a hand grabbed his own, causing him to jolt as he turned to see Shelia staring at him with a soft frown. “Church, before you go...Can I speak to you? Privately?”_ _

__“...Yeah. Sure,” he sighed, glancing up at the others. “I’ll be right out. Tex, make sure Caboose doesn’t wander off in the meanwhile.”_ _

__The barbarian rolled her eyes as she motioned for everybody to follow her, everybody but Tucker heading out the front door. The dark-skinned human stood there for a few seconds, before he gave a soft shake of his head. “Stay safe, Church,” he said as he headed into the back room, leaving just Sheila and him alone._ _

__“Please, stay safe,” Sheila begged the moment the door had swung shut, squeezing her hand. “And bring Lopez back safely.”_ _

__Of course, this is what it was about. Church smiled softly, a slight laugh escaping him. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be sure you bring your boyfriend home safe and sound.” His smile only widen at the sharp blush that flooded her face. He knew that she wasn’t fond of him teasing her about the two’s relationship, as it had been one of the reasons he had gotten to become the captain after Flower’s death. He kept her fling with the Red fighter a secret, he got to be in charge. “You keep Tucker and the kid safe in the meanwhile. If there is any trouble from monsters, you are going to have to be the one to take care of them this time.”_ _

__Sheila shook her head, sighing with a soft smile but it soon faded as she gave him a concerned look. “Are you sure you are up for this, Church? Not just including the...Poisoned thing, I know you would rather forget your past. Reginald might not have been one of the top Freelancers like your sister was but he is still strong...And I am sure if he can find anything to use against you, he will.”_ _

__Church didn’t have a respond to that as he looked away, gently pulling his hand out of Sheila's grip as he gave a soft shrug of his shoulders. “Would it matter if I wasn’t? Reginald is after me and me alone, he is my problem and…” He paused, blinking. If Reginald knew about… _that _to make the poison, what else did he know? Did he know about what happened with...No, it was better to hope that it would never be brought to light. Besides, the only person who knew the truth was dead.___ _

____“I’ll be fine, Sheila. He isn’t trying to kill me, I don’t think. I don’t know what he wants but...I’ll do my best to stay safe.”  
He didn’t give her time to say anything as he turned and headed out the door. The group was waiting just outside for him, Donut already missing as he no doubt headed straight back to the base. He didn’t say a word as he walked past them, motioning for them to follow as he started the trek toward the ridge._ _ _ _

____The heavy sound of footsteps caught his attention as he glanced over his shoulder to see Tex hurrying up to his side, a concerned look in her eyes as she slowed down to walk in pace with him. “What did Sheila want to talk to you about?” she asked, her voice flickering with distrust. Even after the few months of being here, Tex hadn’t completely decided to trust Shelia. He couldn’t blame her, but sometimes it was annoying when Tex decided to just be at odds with her for a day or two out of the blue._ _ _ _

____“Just wanted to make sure I was fine and up to this,” he answered. He certainly wasn’t going to add the part about Lopez. He had done his best to hide the truth from the others, but luckily nobody really seemed to question why the dragonborn kept showing up at their base at odd hours and would skip battles only to be found hanging out with Sheila afterwards. He didn’t blame the two for falling for each other - at least when Sheila was the only person in the canyon that understood Draconic._ _ _ _

____“And are you? You haven’t recovered fully from that fight with Reginald I noticed. Don’t be an idiot - if you aren’t up to it, you don’t need to do something as dangerous as chase him down.”_ _ _ _

____“...I’m fine,” he said curtly, glancing over at her with a frown. “Besides, must I remind you, he is after me. If we want him to show his face, I need to be with you guys. He won’t bother engaging with you if he doesn’t even have a chance of getting at me.”_ _ _ _

____“Fine. But if you get yourself hurt, I am dragging your ass back here kicking and screaming if I must. You have no right to be an idiot and get yourself killed on this mission, got it?”_ _ _ _

____Despite himself, he found himself smiling at that. Even when the two had properly been together back at the Freelancer Guild, they had...Strange ways of showing affection. Screaming matches were common but...Well, in the end if they could make up, no harm no fowl, right? He...Wasn’t sure if they would ever recover from what happened at Freelancer but it was...Nice to see her brand of comfort again._ _ _ _

____“Right, right. Well luckily, I have you there to take arrows for me. I’m sure you will be a very useful shield,” he said, before he raised his voice so that everybody could hear. “Okay, so the way I see it, Reginald is hoping that we follow him. He is a hunter, and the best way to deal with a dangerous prey is to lure it into a trap. But first, we need a trial to follow.”_ _ _ _

____As he spoke, they reached the path that would take them up to his watchpoint. As he saw it, Reginald knew that the first place they would look for a trail would be where they last saw him - the place he ambushed Church. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, which made the fact that he soon spotted a bag laying there in the middle of the path just a bit more confusion._ _ _ _

____He came to a stop, everybody else soon following as he stared at the simple brown bag that just...Laid there. There was nothing special looking about the bag as he slowly started to approach, motioning for the others to stay put. Picking it up, it was heavier then he was expecting as he opened it and peered inside._ _ _ _

____The bag was filled with chalks and inks, along with a scroll. Blinking at the content, he pulled out the scroll and unfurled it. For a second, he was expecting it to be a letter of some sort - a demand or something but instead it was...Unintelligible. Every few seconds, he was certain he could make out a word or something but instead it just didn’t make sense and he realized what he was holding._ _ _ _

____“Simmons?” he said, as he curled the letter back up and held it out for the wizard to take. “Do you think you can see if you can read this? I think its a spell scroll but I guess it isn’t one I can learn.”_ _ _ _

____Simmons wasted no time in scrambling past the others, quickly grabbing it as he unrolled it and started to scan through it. Grif came up behind him, resting his chin on the half-elf’s shoulder as the wizard whispers words beneath his breath before he looked up with glittering eyes. “It's a scroll of Teleportation Circle!” he explained, causing Church to freeze for a second but he went on, not noticing his reaction. “I should be able to cast it, as long as I have the right items for it...It's a bit stronger than I am used to casting but having the scroll should really help.”_ _ _ _

____“Right…” Church said, glancing at the bag he was holding. “You mentioned needing the right items...Would chalk and ink do? Cause it seems Reginald left us with some to make sure we can use this spell.”_ _ _ _

____“Yes, that is exactly what I need! Oh good, that saves so much time of trying to get the materials. Which means I should have the circle done in...Ten minutes.”_ _ _ _

____“Ten minutes? That’s like, a super long time!” Grif moaned, as he tilted his head, resting it against Simmons’, who gave him an annoyed look in return._ _ _ _

____“A complex spell like this takes time, Grif! Just...Take a nap or something, I don’t know,” he said, shrugging Grif off of his shoulder as he strolled past Church, gently taking the bag as he went. “Just...Don’t bother me while I am doing this. If I get distracted after starting the spell, the scroll will be useless and we will have to find another way to find Reginald.”_ _ _ _

____Church watched as he settled down, emptying out the bag as he started to sort through the chalk and whisper arcane words beneath his breath. The half-elf took the opportunity to turn back to the others as he folded his arms across his chest. “Now, if I am being honest...There is no doubt about it that this is a trap. But, we don’t have any other leads so we are going to have to walk into it. We don’t know where this teleportation circle is going to land us...So we better be prepared.”_ _ _ _

____“Can we all charge in at once?” Sarge’s question caught Church off guard, causing the half-elf to blink._ _ _ _

____“Er...No. The teleportation circle will only be so big - there is no way that all six of us can enter it at once.”_ _ _ _

____Sarge scowled as he folded his arms, straighten up to glare up at Church as he shook his head. “Well, I refuse to let the Blues be the first or last one to enter! I don’t trust you dirtbags, I can’t know if this is a trap one way or another!”_ _ _ _

____“Then how do you expect we fucking do this? The portal will only be open for seconds, we can’t go in one at a time or anything.”_ _ _ _

____“Then we use the buddy system!” It was Caboose who spoke up, causing a silence to fall over the group as they all turned to look at him. “The buddy system makes sure we are nice and safe, never good to somewhere alone.”_ _ _ _

____Huh. Church paused, surprise flickering over his face for that rather...Smart recommendation from Caboose. He turned to face Sarge, opening his mouth to ask if that was alright with the dwarf when Grif cut in._ _ _ _

____“I want to go with Church, then.”_ _ _ _

____It was said like a simple statement, like stating an obvious fact. Church glanced over at his friend, his eyebrows knitting in slight concern on why Grif wanted to go with him over anybody else - mostly when they worked so hard to keep their friendly relationship a secret. But Grif looked almost bored as he stood there, lazily turning his attention onto Sarge as the dwarf sputtered in surprise._ _ _ _

____“Why would you want to go with an enemy, Private Grif?” he demanded, stomping his foot as he scowled intently up at the human._ _ _ _

____“One, I’m not a private. This is not an army...Sir. And two, I thought you would want us to split up a Red and Blue each.” He gave a shrug, although Church could see the tips of a sly smile sliding onto his face. “Y’know, to make sure there isn’t any funny business going on.”_ _ _ _

____Church took the opportunity to take a step forward, feeling a bit more relaxed as Grif’s explanation. “I, for one, think it's a good idea. We use the...Buddy system, and go a Red and Blue each to keep an eye on each other. Does that suit you, Sarge?” he questioned, letting his gaze fall to the dwarf who simply grumbled but nodded his head. “Great. You can go with Caboose, and Tex can go with Simmons.”_ _ _ _

____“Why the fuck do I have to go with the scrawny nerd?,” Tex questioned from where she leaned against the wall, a snort escaping her as she went on. “I have enough stress dealing with you as is, I don’t need to deal with another one.”_ _ _ _

____Church rolled his eyes. “We don’t know what is on the other side, Tex. Seems smart to make sure the more...Fragile members should stick with the fighters.”_ _ _ _

____“What about you and Grif? You two are pretty weak and won’t stand much of a chance against Reginald.”_ _ _ _

____“At least I can fight with a sword. A spell-caster and a physical fighter is the best we can do. We don’t have much other options here, Tex. As I see it, Grif and I should go in first. Reginald isn’t aiming to kill me so he can’t start with anything dangerous if I am in the front.”_ _ _ _

____“Joy,” Grif groaned._ _ _ _

____Tex didn’t seem certain however as her eyes narrowed, but finally she turned her gaze away and the entire group fell into a slightly uncomfortable silence. As they stood there, waiting for Simmons to finish up his spell, Caboose slowly wandered over to Church. The half-elf noticed him, opening his mouth to say something when the goliath gently planted his hands on his shoulder and the warmth of more healing flooded through him._ _ _ _

____Church blinked as the pain continued to dull, having been bought a some more time before it would become unbearable again as he stared up at Caboose, raising an eyebrow. “Er...Thanks, buddy but...That’s a lot of healing spells you have casted on me today. Shouldn’t you be saving some in case you and Sarge get into trouble?”_ _ _ _

____Caboose smiled, giving a soft shake of his head. “Oh no, I would rather make sure my best friend is alright then have them go to waste. The Sargent can take care of himself, he is very strong after all.”_ _ _ _

____Church...Didn’t give him a respond to that, just nodding his head as they waited the rest of the time in silence before finally, Simmons stood up and backed away from the circle he had drawn into the ground, staring at the scroll as it glowed faintly in his hands. His gaze flickered toward the group, giving a soft nod of his head as Church and Grif started to make their way up to the circle, the others falling into line behind them._ _ _ _

____“You ready?” Church asked Grif as they came to a stop, only to get a snort in response._ _ _ _

____“Fuck no. I would rather not be doing this but...Well, I guess i don’t have a choice.”  
Church gave a nod to Simmons, who finished up the spell with a flash of arcane light. The glowing scroll in his hand suddenly turned to dust as the circle on the ground started to glow, Simmons looking proud for a second before he quickly turned to face the group. “Go!”_ _ _ _

____Church took in a deep breath as both him and Grif took a step forward, stepping into the arcane circle. Suddenly, the air around them shifted as they were torn away from the canyon. The warm air suddenly turned frigid as Church found himself falling, barely having time to fully realize what was happening as he hit the ground. Snow custoned his fall as both him and Grif were sent rolling down a slight hill before they came to an end._ _ _ _

____For a few seconds, the only sound was Grif’s moan as Church slowly started to recollect his thoughts. He started to push himself up, flinching at the cold snow that bit at his bare hands but paused as the sound of crunching snow caught his ear. His head snapped up to find the fine point of a sword only a few inches away as a collection of guards started to fan out around them._ _ _ _

____“You are surrounded! State your name and your reason for being here!” the lead guard shouted, a growl in his voice as Church’s gaze flickered around. There wasn’t any sign of the others following after him and with a moan, he allowed himself to collapse back into the snow._ _ _ _

____“Goddamnit.”_ _ _ _


	10. Lost But Not Forgotten

The first thing Simmons took note of as the world settled around him was that he was alone...Well, alone other than for the rather terrifying aasimar that loomed next to him. There was a tingle of magic that ran down his spine from the trip, the pure excitement of using such a powerful spell and having felt such raw arcanic magic almost made him miss that something was wrong.

He took in a deep breath as he settled his racing heart as he took in where the duo had landed. In a stark contrast to the bare canyon they had lived in for the last two years, grass could be seen stretching as far as the eye could see. Flowers, tree, bushes...Life. There was even buildings off in the horizon but...There wasn’t any sign of the others.

That was when he truly realized something was wrong as they had gone last though it - even if it had taken Tex shoving Sarge and Caboose through the portal when the Red sargent had tried to unknowingly waste the few precious seconds of the portal being open in an argument for going last. There wasn’t any reason the others wouldn’t be around unless...Fear started to creep up in his stomach as he started to muse over the possibilities.

“What are the others?” Tex asked, her voice even but Simmons could tell there was a bare trace of worry beneath it. He might have brought it up but he had already taken to pacing back and forth, wringing his hands together as he muttered breath his breath.

“I should have taken a better look at the scroll,” he said, giving his head a shake. He was stupid, so stupid. Church had said it was most likely a trap but yet Simmons hadn’t taken any time to make sure the spell worked like it did. He had certainly looked like a scroll of teleportation portal but who knows what it really was! “I felt something was wrong, something was wrong about the scroll but I didn’t think to look at it and-”

A hand clasped his shoulder, jolting him to freeze as he stared up at Tex. Her eyes were narrowed, a frown on her face as she caused him to squirm under her intense gaze. “Calm down. Do you have an idea of what has happened?”

What...Happened? He blinked as he ducked his gaze away from her. It was hard to guess - magic was a fickle thing and there was so many different spells and how they affect the world... “We’ve been split up,” he finally said, deciding that it was easier to cover what they could easily put together. 

“Maybe the teleportation runes were set to different locations that shifted every second but that...Seems unlikely. Maybe if the spell was set to…” he paused, drifting into his own thoughts for a few seconds before she shook his head, getting back on track. “Without more knowledge of Reginald’s knowledge of magic, it's hard to figure out what may have gone wrong. All that is clear to see is that we have been split up and we don’t know where the others have landed.”

Tex didn’t have a response as a few long seconds past before she released her tight trip on his shoulder and started to walk toward the buildings on the horizon without a word. Simmons blinked, hestating for a few moments before her scurried after her. “W-Wait, Tex, what are we planning to do?”

“You said you need more knowledge of what Reginald’s knows about magic...Well, I used to work with him,” she explained, catching Simmons off guard. She used to...What? Hadn’t Tucker say that this Reginald guy was once a Freelancer? Did that mean that Tex was...Oh. Well that made perfect sense. Of course she was a Freelancer as well. He blinked, jolted out of his thoughts as she continued to speak. “He knows magic but he is a divine caster, a weak one at that.”

Simmons mused over that information before it hit him. “He couldn’t - he _can_ \- use the scroll himself much less read it.”

Tex nodded, her eyes remaining fixed on the town on the horizon. “Now Reginald is smart, I’m sure he had the scroll made to be a trap but with no knowledge of arcane magic...Chances are, he doesn’t know where we could have ended up. So we have time. Now, how do you think the spell could have backfired to have the effect it did but still work?”

That...Was a good question. He paused to think about it. Now that he knew that Reginald didn’t have any knowledge of arcane magic, it was a good chance that the scroll they had been left was indeed one of teleportation circle. A spell like that would have to be created with certain runes in mind which would link it to an already set circle. If there wasn’t…

“Teleportation magic is a tricky thing. I’m not strong enough to use it myself but I’ve heard about how when weaving the fabric of the universe to cross to different points in the Material Plane or even different planes...It's hard to be exact, even with a proper teleportation spell. The less you know about the location you are trying to get too, the more likely a mishap will happen. Normally, a teleportation circle would have a runes corresponding to a different set circle but I imagine that this one had faked ones - there wasn’t a set destination so it instead dumped us at different points.”

Tex groaned, shaking her head. “Gods, I hate magic. Always causes more trouble than it's worth and its easier to beat down your problems with an axe than use magic. But...I suppose it has some uses,” she muttered, glancing over her shoulder to stare at him. “You don’t happen to know a spell to get in touch with the others, do you?”

Simmons’ eyes lit up as he nodded his head. He had forgotten about his sending spell - it didn’t get a whole lot of use in the canyon due to the fact that they were so close. “I do! I don’t even need to know where they are - it will be easy enough to get in touch with both Grif and Sarge but...I might be good to know where we are. Luckily, I believe a teleportation mishap has a set range of where it throws you so we can’t be that far from the others...Hopefully.”  
“Good. Once we learn the name of the town, send them a message to meet us here. If we are lucky, we will be close enough for an easy regroup and then we can face Reginald if he shows his face.”

Simmons nodded, letting his gaze fall onto the town they had landed at. It had been a long while since he had seen proper civilization. It was rare for them to leave the canyon - the monthly delivery of food that would just be waiting outside their base was the only sign that the bigger guilds that they were a fraction of hadn’t forgotten about them so they rarely had a reason to leave. 

The town was...Quaint. Wooden and stone buildings, it was a far cry from the city he had grown up with but...he could see the charm in it, even if it found himself feeling strange at how bare it was compared to his old home. Tiny shops lined the streets. A bakery, a general store...A library which he found himself staring longingly at for a little longer than he would like to admit. He didn’t dare step away from Tex until he saw a lady sweeping the porch of her house and decided that she looked nice enough to approach.

“Um...H-hello there!” he said, giving a soft but nervous smile as the lady glanced up with a surprised look. “I-Ah, I hate to be a bother but my f-friend and I just came into town but we are a bit lost...Can you tell us where exactly we are?”

The lady blinked as he leaned on her broom, before a soft smile fell on her lips as she brushed a loose lock of hair from in front of her face. “You mean the name of the town? You’re in Eastcliff, sir. Must be pretty lost if you ended up here with no idea where you are - not many other towns around here.”

Eastcliff? He...Knew where that was. He blinked, realising that they weren’t all that far from Blood Gulch. “Th-Thank you, miss!” he managed as he turned, heading back to Tex who raised an eyebrow at him. 

“So, you know where we are?”

“I do!” he said as they continued to walk further into the town. “We are in Eastcliff, one of the few towns that are located near Blood Gulch. Close enough to be threatened by the monsters, but far enough that we never had a reason to come here.” He had to say, he was pretty relieved that Sarge had made them memorize the local map of the land surrounding Blood Gulch - saying it was a tactical advantage despite the fact that they never left.

Honestly, Simmons would have memorized it on his own - you never know when tiny facts will be useful, but he knew for a fact that both Sarge and even Grif knew the layout...If they could figure out where they were in relations, it would be no trouble to meet back here. “Hopefully, the others will know where they landed and we can meet up here.”

“And what exactly will it take to get a message to the others?” Tex questioned as she came to a stop, raising an eyebrow as she stared at him.

Simmons smiled, giving a slight wave of his hand. “Nothing I don’t already have. And while I wasn’t expecting this outcome, I do have two of the spells prepared for the day - I always make sure to prepare them if we have no plans of attacking you Blues for it just in case I need to get in touch with somebody.”

“Huh. That...Convicent.”

“Being prepared is what we wizards was great at,” he hummed, before he paused. “We...Might want to get an inn thought. It's going to take a while for them to get to us no matter where they are. I can send out the messages while we locate one.”

Tex simply grunted as she turned and started to scour for an inn, Simmons quietly following behind as he pulled out his copper wire and started to twirl it around his finger. It was lucky that it required the same copper wire a message spell needed - his version was just a tad more powerful than the one that Grif preferred. 

His mind however focused on Sarge first as he leaned forward to whisper into the wire, letting his arcane energy flow through it as he whispered underneath his breath. “Sarge, this is Simmons,” he said, picking his words carefully as he counted them out in his head. “Tex and I landed at Eastcliff. Tex thinks it was a trap and we should regroup here before continuing on. Alright?”

Within seconds, Sarge’s voice echoed rather loudly in his head, causing him to wince. “I hear you loud and clear, Simmons! Caboose and I are on our way but you wouldn’t believe were we landed. We’ve found a whole-” Without warning, Sarge’s voice ended halfway through the message and the wizard found himself sighing to himself. He had told them time and time again, twenty five words! The spell only carried on for twenty five words but Sarge never understood or just didn’t care. 

He shook his head, not willing to waste a spell to give Sarge an attempt to finish what he was saying, instead letting his mind drift to Grif as he echoed the same words into the wire. “Grif, this is Simmons. Tex and I landed at Eastcliff. Tex thinks it was a trap and we should regroup here before continuing on. Alright?”

It took longer for a reply to come, long enough that Simmons was starting to get worried before Grif’s familiar voice echoed in his head. “No can do,” came the reply, Grif’s voice slow and careful, no doubt counting out his words as he went. “Church and I landed at a base and got taken prisoner. Going to need a recuse. Can’t be that far.” There was a pause. “Very snowy.”

With that, the message came to an end and Simmons sighed under his breath. Of course things wouldn’t be easy...Taken prisoner? Seriously? How unlucky had then been in their landing? “Tex, we have a problem,” he said, causing her to freeze as she turned to look at him. The look in her eyes caused him to nervously shift as he cleared his throat. “Grif and Church...Apparently landed at a base of some type and got taken prionsor.” When Tex didn’t respond other than her stare to increase in his intensity, he nervously continued on. “T-The message has a word limit so all i got was it was snowy but…”

He paused, blinking. If they hadn’t landed all that far from Blood Gulch there was a chance of… “I think I might know where they are. There is a keep in the nearby mountains, high enough that there would be snow. It isn’t connected to any adventuring guilds and are more of the royal guard so chances are they aren’t friendly. I-I can maybe prepare another sending spell thought and get help from Donut!”

There was a long silence before Tex turned away, growling as she gave a strong shake of his head. “Church is an goddamn idiot...Fine. Send a message to Donut but tell him to bring Tucker - no buts about it, we need all the help we can get and I will kill him if he doesn’t help us - and to head straight for that keep. Once Sarge and Caboose get here, we are heading out and will meet the others there. We have to get to Church before Reginald can.”

“Right...Right.” With a nervous wringing of his hands, Simmons followed after Tex as she stomped her way through the town, looking even harder for an inn than before. While he could understand her worry for Church, his attention kept shifting to Grif. He could send messages in the meanwhile, make sure the pair were safe and...Oh, he really hoped that Grif was alright.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like the last chapter, I'm not quite sure I have a lot to say...Which is a shame because I really like using these chapter notes to kinda say what I am going for. Well, there is one thing I want to kinda talk about and that's the Teleportation Circle spell. You see, this whole fanfic is based on 5e of D&D. I have character sheets for everybody, I've been doing my best to keep that in mind with how everything works. But when it came to getting everybody to split up...Well, that was an issue. So, why not share a little light into how I ended up 'solving' it by showing the note I had written for myself so I could properly have Simmons explain what went wrong.
> 
> 'Note: This version of a teleportation circle is technically a mix between the proper teleportation circle spell and teleportation. In order to get the effects needed (everybody split up), I had to mix the two. I do not know if a teleportation circle with false runes would work, but...In this case, it did. There was no set location to end up, so a mishap happened. Mishaps are a factor of the teleportation spell - the less you know about where you are going, the more chances something is going to go wrong...With no idea/set location to land, the spell simply...Had a mishap. Instead of teleporting them to the same place like a teleportation spell would do, it spat them out in the groups they had entered in. Luckily, they landed rather close to each other for...Story reason I guess.'
> 
>  
> 
> ...Ah, wait, there is another thing I want to say. There might be an upload on Wednesday. Not for this fanfic but I have a few loose finished RvB fanfics laying out. My first plan was to use them as filter in case I missed an upload here but I seem to be doing very good on that regard (knock on wood, I suppose) and I really want to share them so...Yeah. I have two I am planning to upload so I might put them both up on Wednesday orrrr I might space them apart a week. Not sure yet but either way, there will be at least one going up.


End file.
